IVF babies funded through lottery win and radio contestRikita PatelProgress Educational Trust25 November 2019 |
Lottery winnings and a 'Win a Baby' radio contest have given would-be parents an unusual way of funding IVF.
As the UK's National Lottery marks 25 years since it first started running in 1994, stories have emerged about the case of a winner using her cash for IVF.
Jackpot winner, Rebecca Brown from Nottinghamshire, was told to 'have children sooner rather than later' after she was diagnosed as having pre-cancerous cells of the cervix. Doctors had warned her that she might need to have her womb surgically removed and, therefore, be unable to have a baby.
When this turned out not to be the case, and after winning the lottery in 2016, Brown was able to fund two cycles of IVF treatment. She became pregnant and is due to deliver early next year.
'I was poorly last year and I thought, I want to do it, I've got to. I was able to pay for it so I did,' Brown said, according to the Daily Mail newspaper.
Meanwhile in the USA, the first winners of a Florida radio station's 'Win A Baby' contest have had a baby through IVF funded by the competition. Radio presenter, Jason Jones in Cape Coral, first introduced the radio competition after he and his wife experienced infertility.
The winning Florida couple, Anthony and Krista Rivera welcomed the birth of their baby son Garrett recently. 'It's crazy, I never ever thought that we would, you know, 'win a baby' as they say,' Krista Rivera told CBS News.
'I just kind of put our story together, told them how we met and how much we loved each other and how much we wanted a family and why we had to put those plans on hold,' she added.
It is not the first time that a radio station has hosted an unusual way of giving winning couples a free, funded cycle of IVF treatment. A Canadian radio station that hosted a 'Win a Baby' competition in 2011 was condemned, while other people supported the contest saying that it helped couples by giving them the chance to have a free cycle of IVF, which otherwise they would not have been able to afford.
The Florida radio station plans to continue the contest on a yearly basis.
SOURCES & REFERENCES
| As the National Lottery marks a quarter of a century, 25 winners reveal how winning the jackpot changed their lives |
| The Sun | 18 November 2019 |
| IVF pregnancy dream comes true for Eastwood nurse following £1 million lottery win |
| Nottingham Post | 19 November 2019 |
| Single mother due to give birth after lotto win funded two rounds of IVF |
| Daily Mail | 19 November 2019 |
| 'Win a Baby' radio contest leads to new son for Florida couple |
| CBS News | 20 November 2019 |
Reproduced with permission from BioNews, an email and online sources of news, information and comment on assisted reproduction and genetics.
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