Celebrating the birth of thousands of ‘miracles’
A PARTY to celebrate the thousands of babies born thanks to fertility treatment at a Liverpool Hospital was held on Saturday.
Hundreds of parents with children born as a result of assisted fertility at Liverpool Women’s Hospital’s Hewitt Centre joined staff to mark the 30th anniversary of the first IVF baby.
Two of the oldest children born as a result of pioneering treatment by Liverpool fertility specialist, the late John Hewitt, attended the party – twins Laura and Michael Walton of Birkdale.
Their parents Margaret and Roger Walton tried for 18 years to have another child after adopting their eldest daughter, Ashley, now 34. They then went on to conceive their youngest daughter, Stephanie, naturally a year after the twins were born.
Laura and Michael are now 18 and have just received their A level results.
Mrs Walton, 57, said: “I was 39 when I fell pregnant and we always said when I hit 40 we would stop the treatment, so it was a miracle.
“When Dr Hewitt told us the news it was so emotional, we could not believe it.
“Saturday was a day of mixed emotions because I did not know he had died, I was upset when I found out. He was so wonderful, we owe him so much.
“Michael is going to university in two weeks to study psychology and Laura is going to become a paramedic – we are so proud of them both.
“On their first birthday I also found out I had fallen pregnant naturally with Stephanie which was just amazing.”
Deborah Dudley, 40, and husband David, 43, of St Helens also attended with their children, three-year-old Laurence and two-year-old Annabel, both born through IVF.
The couple have been married for seven years and hoped to start a family straight away.
They had two attempts at private IVF treatment in Manchester without success, after Mrs Dudley was found to have a blocked fallopian tube.
They were referred to Liverpool Women's in January, 2004 and were successful first time, leading to the birth of Laurence in November 2004.
The couple had 12 of their embryos frozen and Annabel was born after two of the healthiest were implanted in Deborah's womb in October 2005.
Mrs Dudley said: “We knew we had only about a 20% chance of having children so it was a devastating time. I thought I would never be a mum. I knew my age was against me as well.
“It is amazing. I cannot thank the hospital and staff enough.”
And James Mitchell, who was born on August 22 following treatment at the Hewitt Centre, was brought along by his parents David and Carolyn, from Wallasey.
They succeeded in their first attempt at IVF after trying for eight years to have a sibling for Carolyn’s son from a previous relationship, Mark, 18.
Mr Mitchell said: “It has been a lot of stress over the years so the relief is tremendous as well as the joy,”.
Mrs Mitchell added: “We have waited so long, I couldn't believe it when I finally held Alexander in my arms..”
Clinical Director at the Hewitt Centre, Charles Kingsland, said: “Infertility is a profound disease affecting a person’s mental and physical health.
“Infertility can be one of the great sadnesses of life which is why I and my colleagues love our jobs because we are often able to bring the joy of parenthood to people who thought it might never be possible.”
