Sean and Carolyn Savage – the couple who endured a horrifying embryo mix-up and carried another couple’s baby to term only to give the baby back to the biological parents when he was born, announced today that they used fertility treatments again, and a surrogate is carrying twins for them. They made the announcement on the Today Show (Watch the Video Here) and graciously mentioned me as the doctor who helped them achieve their dream.

A few of us at Sher Institute have been aware of this pregnancy for several months but have kept Carolyn’s secret with great anticipation until she was ready to share it with the world. The joy of the endpoint is what keeps me going every day and, as is the case with all of my patients, it is such a wonderful, gratifying feeling to know that I played a role in her happy ending.

Carolyn and I had a great doctor-patient rapport. Her courage inspired me in the time we got to know one another. In our discussions, I found Carolyn to be an empathetic and sensitive woman who did not harbor any ill will or resentment towards the biological parents for whom she carried and delivered the baby. She is a deeply moral and ethical person whom I have come to greatly admire.

The fact that Carolyn and Sean had faith in our clinic and chose me as the doctor they trusted after their terrible experience was a great privilege. As Carolyn’s physician, I wanted to be there for her from both a clinical and emotional standpoint as we embarked on this journey together.

When Carolyn began the IVF cycle that led to this successful pregnancy, she was a few months shy of her 42nd birthday. Advanced maternal age presents a challenge for any RE simply because, as we have discussed before in this blog, the ovaries do not respond as well to the IVF medication protocol as a woman gets older. And as we have also discussed here, the competency of the egg is limiting factor in IVF. Therefore, we needed to do everything we could to ensure that Carolyn was on a unique protocol that suited her individual needs and would maximize her chance for success.

We decided to treat her with the agonist/antagonist conversion protocol(A/ACP), pioneered and introduced at SIRM more than a decade ago. This protocol optimizes the number and quality of oocytes available for IVF/ICSI, and correspondingly optimizes IVF pregnancy rates in women with diminished ovarian reserve, and in older women. I felt this gave Carolyn her best chance at success. As we at SIRM staunchly believe,stimulation protocol is a critical factor in outcome and thus, must be individualized for each patient, especially older women and women who are poor responders.

One major topic I would like to address is the stringent IVF laboratory safety and quality control we adhere to at all of our SIRM clinics. In more than 30 years as a physician, none of my clinics has ever had an embryo mix-up such as the one Carolyn endured prior to her arrival at Sher Institute. Under the direction of Executive Lab Director Levent Keskintepe PhD, all of our labs follow strict quality control. We have more desiccators than most IVF clinics, ensuring that each patient has their own. They are crossed checked and color coded.

After her egg retrieval, we transferred two blastocysts into her surrogate. And then we waited. In December, right before Christmas, we were able to give Carolyn the best possible Christmas present. She had “hit a homerun” – her surrogate was pregnant with twins.

I am so blessed to have been a part of her journey and I am delighted that she and Sean will have the happy ending they deserve. I will always hold her close to my heart.

G-d Bless!

Geoff Sher