Outside the room the blue balloons testify that it’s a son! The husband of Matina Karavokyri opens the door. A couple from Piraeus who became parents thanks to a internationally pioneering Greek technique. Matina is one of the happiest people I’ve ever seen in my life. Our discussion begins…

“After many in-vitro efforts, we finally managed to become parents and acquire a healthy and biological child, thanks to a great scientific advancement that will enable many women to have the child they tried for with IVF treatments for so long and who think they cannot succeed,” she said to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA).

Q: How many attempts have you made?
– Four attempts, the next solution was to use a donor egg. Then I was given the choice to try this new method and I did not think twice.

Q: You were not afraid, it was something new …
No, I was not anxious, even though it was something new. I was briefed on everything about pre-pregnancy, examinations that will be done. That did not make me nervous at all as all pregnacies require examinations. I prefer to know that this baby is well, so I did not think much of it. It was as if I were given the greatest opportunity in my life. My dream has come true.

Q: When you took your child in your arms, how did you feel?
It was a unique feeling, I felt excited, so much love for the baby. I still struggle to believe it, I take it in my arms and cry, it seems incredible to me.

Q: Who does he look like?
He looks like his father. The first thing that the embryologist said to me was: “sorry to disappoint you now, but he looks like his father.”
….. But you were not influenced by that?
-No, I knew it already from the ultrasound.

Q: It was written that there were three parents. Is that true? In fact, another woman helped you …
– I will explain it in simple words. It was my own egg, which in the middle consists of the nucleus, with all my genetic material. This was removed, because it was good, and inserted into a donor egg from which the nucleus had been removed, the genetic material had been removed. That was, in fact, as if my egg had been in a buggy so that it can travel to the womb. This only contains mitochondria – as I had an endometriosis problem. It does not contain anything from a third person. It’s ours a hundred percent!

Q: Do you feel grateful to this woman?
– Of course I do, because if I did not have her egg I could not have done this. I would also like to meet her but it is not allowed.

Q: What would you say to her through this interview?
– I would like to thank her very much. That she is one of the many people that helped to make me happy. I will never be able to forget her, even though I do not know her. I wish her all the best.