Illinois Federation

For Right to Life

Daily News

Noah Markham's first birthday will be a quiet family affair, compared to the media attention he received when he was born. Sixteen months after being rescued as a frozen embryo from a hospital flooded by Hurricane Katrina, Noah entered the world January 16th, 2007, and was greeted by his cheering family and worldwide press.

 

Noah was one of 1,400 embryos frozen in canisters of liquid nitrogen at a hospital in eastern New Orleans. When Katrina struck on Aug. 29, 2005 doctors evacuated from the Fertility Institute of New Orleans, worried that pressure relief valves would vent the nitrogen much faster than usual in the sweltering summer heat and the embryos would be lost. But the risk involved in trying to return to the hospital was too great.

 

Two weeks after the hurricane hit Dr. Belinda Sartor and Roman Pyrzak, lab director of The Fertility Institute, led seven Illinois Conservation Police officers and three Louisiana State Police officers to the facility in flat-bottomed boats, and rescued the imperiled embryos.

 

Noah's parents, Glen and Rebekah Markham, had no way of knowing what had become of their frozen embryos until, to their relief, they found that they were safe. In May, 2006, Noah was defrosted and implanted into his mother's womb

 

After Noah's birth, Rebekah, Noah's mother, said she didn't know how to thank the clinic staff and officers who rescued the embryo that became her son.

 

"They really risked some things. Some people were saying, 'Don't get in the water.' And they did it and really probably didn't understand the magnitude of what they were doing at the time," she told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm. "But even more now when I look at this little precious baby and I think that that's what they went in there and rescued, it's amazing. I don't know how to thank them. I don't know if I ever can. I just hope they can understand how much it means to me and how blessed I feel and how rich they've made my life to be able to bring this little baby home in a day or so."

 

Dr. Sartor called the birth "very exciting." "This little fella wouldn't be here if we hadn't been able to get in [to the New Orleans hospital] and get the embryos out," she said.

 

Commenting on his first birthday celebration, Rebekah said, "Noah doesn't know who's here and who's not. It'll be just my family and Glen's family."

 

Noah has an older brother, Witt, who was born from the embryos that were created using Rebekah's eggs and Glen's sperm in the fertility lab. The Markhams still have three embryos frozen, so when asked if she would consider pregnancy again she replied, "How can I not? I'm happy with two, but how can you not when you know what the possibility is? We almost lost Noah. I don't want to lose the others voluntarily."

 

Contact: Ted Baklinski

Source: LifeSiteNews.com

Friday, January 18, 2008

Baby Rescued As Frozen Embryo from Hospital during Katrina Turns One