Duke's twin basketball stars, Cameron and Cayden Boozer are miracles. They are the sons of former NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer, and they were born out of parental love for their sick child. But how it was done has sparked controversy.
Cameron and Cayden's older brother, Carmani, was born with sickle cell disease, an inherited, lifelong blood disorder characterized by a genetic mutation that causes red blood cells to become rigid, sticky, and crescent-shaped, leading to chronic anemia, blood vessel blockages, pain, and potential organ damage. The life expectancy is about 30 years less than the average, with recent studies claiming that about 95 percent of children with the disease reach adulthood.
According to the Boozer's and their doctors, the best chance of saving Carmani's life was a bone marrow transplant. Detailed in ESPN's E60 episode, "Blood Brothers," the highest match probability in this case was a stem cell transplant using umbilical cord blood from a sibling, so the Boozer couple decided to go the IVF route.
In vitro fertilization (IVF) is where an egg is fertilized by sperm outside the body, in a laboratory dish. It is used to treat infertility or genetic problems, like Carmani was dealing with, involving stimulation of egg production, retrieval, fertilization, and transferring the embryo to the uterus to achieve pregnancy.
The problem is that IVF doesn't achieve a one-for-one creation. Many embryos are created in a petri dish. Parents decide which ones they want to keep, while either discarding the rest, or putting them on ice.
Here's where things get extremely controversial, no matter what side of the political or religious aisle you land on.
Both Carlos and CeCe had the sickle cell gene, the only way to ensure their next child would be sickle-free is through a thorough IVF screening process. Again, a decision between which lives are desirable and undesirable according the parents and doctors, if I'll be quite blunt.
In total, the doctors harvested 34 eggs from Cece; 10 became fertilized, sickle-free embryos.As said by Basketball Network, "Of the 10, only two were considered a ("perfect match.") With this development, the doctors suggested putting both fertilized embryos in Cece’s womb to ensure a favorable outcome."
The heavy weight to bear here is the fact that science affirms life begins at conception, so we can say with certainty that while a life now has the opportunity to be saved, lives were devalued and discarded at the same time.
The Boozer twins were born on July 18, 2007.
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