Deb Knight opens up about unexpected dilemma after IVF
When Channel Nine journalist Deb Knight and her husband Lindsay Dunbar turned to IVF to have kids, they were faced with a rather unexpected decision afterwards: what to do with the one leftover embryo?
Knight, who went through two years and 11 cycles of IVF to have son Darcy and daughter Elsa, eight and seven respectively (21-month-old Audrey was a “lovely surprise”), visited the Today show yesterday to talk about the rarely-discussed dilemma faced by thousands of parents around the country.
There are four common options for parents with leftover embryos – using them, donating them to another couple, donating them to medical research, or discarding them. After much thought, Knight and Dunbar decided to donate their “spare” embryo to medical research.
“If I had a friend or family member who was having trouble conceiving, that would be a different scenario,” the 45-year-old explained. “Donating to a stranger ... you have to connect with that person. You have to then go down the process of giving up all of your rights to that potential child. There are all sorts of legal issues to consider.”
According to IVF specialist Dr Rick Gordon, only around one in 100 couples who consider donating their remaining embryo(s) to a couple struggling with their fertility actually go through with it.
“When the penny drops that it's their own child out there – a sibling to their own children – that's a different kettle of fish,” he said. "We’re talking cells here, but to people's brains, these are potential human beings.”
Today show co-host Georgie Gardner praised Knight for speaking so openly about a topic so rarely discussed. “I appreciate so much you being so candid and sharing your experience.”
Knight replied that she only hoped her story would help others grapple with the difficult decision. “Hopefully it helps others going through the process to know that they’re not alone.”
Image credit: Deb Knight/Instagram.