An incredible gift of life: Couple donates extra embryo to childless strangers and now they're bringing up their daughters 'as sisters in different homes'



When Jodi Dillworth and her husband Larry gave birth to a beautiful baby girl through IVF, their family was complete - yet they were troubled that they still had embryos left over.

Determined to give the gift of life to a couple unable to have their own children, they donated the embryos and they were adopted by Rachel and Diony Victorin, who also welcomed a baby girl.



Now the two girls, four-year-old Bobbie Dillworth and 14-month-old Esther Victorin, are biological sisters being brought up in different homes - and have brought the two families together.

The Dillworths, from Tacoma, Washington, and the Victorins, from nearby Kent, did not know each other before the donation, but now try to meet up once a week for their daughters.

Happy family: Diony and Rachel Victorin smile with their 14-month-old daughter, Esther, who was adopted as an embryo. They now enjoy a good relationship with Esther's biological parents

'She is part of them, and I want to share her with them,' Rachel Victorin told People magazine . 'I want her to grow up knowing all the people who love her.'



The families now have an open-adoption arrangement but there were reservations about whether they should meet - and both families agree there might be trouble in the future.

Mrs Dillworth, 41, conceived Bobbie through IVF in 2007 and suffered medical problems that caused her to have a hysterectomy, and she was left with five unused embryos.

'It didn't seem right,' to not use them, she told Komo News 4 last year. 'There had to be a way that they could have life and be born.'

Gift of life: They adopted the embryo from Jodi and Larry Dillworth after they had a daughter through IVF

Sisters: The two couples' children, Esther (left), and Bobbie (right), are therefore biological sisters



She found Embryo Adoption Services of Cedar Park, the only ministry-based center of its kind in the county, and looked through profiles for prospective parents.

GIVING EMBRYOS 'A CHANCE AT LIFE'

Would-be parents can adopt frozen embryos that are 'left over' after another couple's IVF procedures have been completed. Unlike with traditional adoption, embryo adoption does not require a court to establish parentage for the adopting couple because state laws use gestation, rather than genetics, as the legal basis for motherhood.

Agencies hold a home study and counselling before matching a couple with a donor.

Embryo adoption can be anonymous, or there can be an open arrangement where couples sign an agreement on the levels of contact and personal information they hand over. A semi-open embryo adoption can also be organised, where full names and addresses are not divulged, but other personal information and history is.

Embryo adoption is generally less expensive than infant adoption as couples do not have to pay court costs, for the retrieval of eggs from a woman or an egg donor's fee. There are around 600,000 frozen embryos across the U.S. It is believed embryos can be frozen indefinitely; one baby was born after the embryo had been frozen for 13 years.



She came across the Victorins, who were bi-racial like her relationship, and decided to reach out after reading they had had four failed IVF attempts.

'All the ups and downs of fertility treatment, the sorrow and the heartache, the crying and the tears every time, hoping it was the time,' Rachel Victorin told Komo 4. 'I knew I was meant to be a mother.'

And it worked; Esther Hope was born on September 28, 2011 weighing 6lbs, 5oz.

Before the birth, the two couples had signed an agreement for the Victorins to provide an annual update about the baby girl, People magazine reported.

But soon after the birth, the Victorins contacted their donors and the couples decided to meet.

When they met three months later at a fast food restaurant, Mrs Dillworth was not sure if she was ready to meet the new baby.

Her husband agreed, worrying: 'Am I going to want to grab my child and take off? I didn't know.'

And when the baby was put into his arms, he became emotional. 'She felt like Bobbie as a baby,' he said.

For now, the family have agreed to keep in regular contact. The Dillworths have explained to Bobbie that Esther is a 'special part of our family'.

The Victorins added that they will tell their daughter they are her only parents, but that the Dillworths will be a part of her life too. 'Her life will be richer knowing them,' they said.

Wanted: Rachel, pictured with seven-week-old Esther, had undergone four failed IVF sessions

Open adoption has become increasingly popular among embryo-donor couples, with parents setting agreements to allow for anything from occasional to regular visits with the child.

'Children have a need to know where they came from, and having that history hidden can create feelings of dissatisfaction,' Dr Jeffrey Keenan, from the National Embryo Donation Center, said.

But with some 600,000 frozen embryos stored in labs across the country, doctors said they expect problems with these arrangements will emerge in time.