To shield any future children from the fear she harbors of getting breast cancer, Katie Dowdy underwent a controversial procedure to select embryos of hers that were free of a genetic mutation linked to the disease.
Deciding to have the procedure, called preimplantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD, wasn’t easy, says Ms. Dowdy. Her husband initially “worried about playing God,” she says. “I thought, if I could have a healthy baby who doesn’t have to worry about the same thing I did, why wouldn’t I?” says the 34-year-old, who hasn’t had cancer. The couple, who live in Castle Pines, Colo., now have two young girls, both born using PGD.
Read the full, original story: Family With a Risk of Cancer Tries to Change Its Destiny