Alana Saarinen, a girl having three biological parents, her mother ans father and a second woman, an egg donor. Alana consequently has DNA from these three parents. Alana loves to play the piano. She is, in all outward respects, a normal, cheerful 13-year-old growing up in suburban America. Critics of "cytoplasmic transfer" procedures have questioned the potential health risks and the ethics what some regard as genetic engineering. But in the Saarinen household there is nothing but praise for the technique that produced their "miracle" baby. Mrs Saarinen was desperate for a baby when at 29, she married her husband, but she knew there was a family history of fertility problems. The doctor recommended an experimental new form of IVF where a small amount of cytoplasm from a healthy donor egg would be injected into Mrs Saarinen's egg cell before the in vitro fertilization with her husband's sperm. When the egg was being implanted into Saarinen's womb a small amount of mitochondria was also implanted. Mitochondria as is known as power house of the cell and is donated from mother end. Mrs Saarinen became pregnant with Alana at her next attempt "It really felt like a miracle" she said. While it is possible to improve the lives of individuals suffering from mitochondrial diseases, they are incurable. Approval of this procedure could help to prevent debilitating diseases.
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