Pregnancy: One shot of life works, thanks to new technique

CAMPBELL --  Anyone struggling to start a family and relying on in-vitro fertilization understands how unpredictable the procedure can be.

That's why doctors often implant more than one embryo in hopes that at least one will survive. But a couple from Campbell learned they only had one chance to make a baby.

It was Valentine's Day twenty years ago when Jennifer and Jason Schiraldi became high school sweethearts. Ten years later, after they started their careers and had their lives on track, they became husband and wife. 

They waited a few years before starting a family, but after two years of trying and no luck, they sought help.  Jason was tested first.

"They knew immediately that I had a big role to play in this,"  Jason says. 

A typical man will have 60 to 100 million sperm in an ejaculation.  Jason's sample had none.

"Ultimately, they told me you have no sperm and it was like you got punched in the chest," Jason remembers.

Despite using every medical test available, doctors couldn't tell Jason why he didn't produce sperm. It's a problem that affects nearly thirty percent of men. Sometimes the cause may be genetic or a blockage. 

"The thing that hits you is, it's ultimately my fault, not that I can change it one way or the other, but I'm affecting the life of the woman that I love," Jason says.

Cleveland Clinic doctors gave Jason one more chance. They thought it possible to find sperm in a testicular biopsy, a painful procedure, but one Jason was willing to endure. 

Lab technicians scoured the sample to find sperm, but could only find one. They used a new freezing method developed by Cleveland Clinic doctor Nina Desai that allows them to freeze one sperm individually. 

Next it was Jennifer's turn to produce viable eggs. She went through three cycles before they could harvest a dozen, of which only eight were good enough.

Then they had to pick one to be inseminated with the sole sperm.

"They wanted to implant two to three embryos and now I only have a chance at making one, a chance to make one with one sperm," Jennifer recalls.

But something amazing happened. It only takes one sperm and one egg to make a baby but the odds of it working in this case were slim. Sixteen days after implantation, the couple learned they were pregnant.

Even Dr. Desai and her team were amazed it worked and consider it a miracle.

Jason couldn't celebrate without proof.

"When I saw my daughter on a sonogram and you can actually see, I watched the four chambers of the heart. I saw her little hands and little feet. That's when I knew something good was about to happen," Jason says.

Nine months later, Kenley arrived. 

"I look at her and I see what can happen when things are meant to be," Jason says.

Jennifer adds, "Everyone is a miracle no matter how you got here, some just take a little more extra work and time and patience."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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