A baby to save our son.

Date:
2003
  • Videos

About this work

Description

Documentary following Jayson and Michelle Whitaker as they undergo selective IVF treatment in order to try for a baby that will exactly match the tissue type of their 3-year-old son Charlie. Charlie suffers from a rare blood disorder, Diamond-Blackfan Anaemia, and undergoes daily treatment as well as blood transfusions every 3 weeks. If he can have a bone-marrow transplant from a sibling with matching tissue he should be able to lead a normal, pain-free life. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority in Britain deny the Whitakers the right to IVF treatment that will select the matching embryo, so they go to the Reproductive Genetics Institute in Chicago for part of the treatment. This is successful and by the end of the programme Michelle has had a baby boy, Jamie, by caesarian, with blood being taken from the umbilical cord for use in the bone-marrow transplant. However, this operation on Charlie cannot take place for another year, and in the meantime there is the possibility that Jamie may also develop Diamond-Blackfan Anaemia.

Publication/Creation

United Kingdom : BBC 1, 2003.

Physical description

1 video cassette (VHS) (50 min.) : sound, color, PAL

Copyright note

BBC Television.

Notes

Broadcast 9 Dec 2003.

Creator/production credits

Produced and Directed by Rachel Coughlan.

Type/Technique

Languages

Where to find it

  • LocationStatusAccess
    Closed stores
    1564V

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