On July 25th
1978, Louise Brown, the world’s first test-tube baby, was born. This dramatic
medical breakthrough, which was hailed in every country throughout the world,
was the climax of 10 years of painstaking research and often heart-breaking
trial and error by two doctors – gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe and scientist
Robert Edwards.
In this book
they reveal the secret of their long collaboration, a unique example of
co-operation between consultant and scientist, the hospital ward and the
laboratory. They describe their lengthy struggles and the opposition which they
encountered from religious groups, official sources, even their own profession.
Above all, they tell the story of Louise Brown from the moment that Patrick
Steptoe secured a mature egg from the ovary of Mrs Lesley Brown, who was
infertile, to the fertilisation of the egg under laboratory conditions. And
finally, nine months later, came the triumphant delivery by Caesarean section
and the Browns held the normal healthy daughter they had longed for.
Extraordinary,
fascinating and compelling, A Matter of Life is a testimony to the sheer determination of two doctors to bring hope
and joy to thousands of childless couples throughout the world – it is, without
doubt, a miracle in the history of medicine.
This 2nd
edition includes a Preface and Postscript as well as additional photographs
that were taken post-1978. At the latest estimate, some four million IVF babies
having been born worldwide.
