An excerpt from The Match: "Savior Siblings" and One Family's Battle to Heal Their Daughter by Beth Whitehouse

NOW IN PAPERBACK, read an excerpt from the The Match (http://www.beacon.org/productdetails.cfm?SKU=0121).

My Sister’s Keeper in nonfiction: a family’s quest to cure their daughter’s debilitating disease by creating a sibling who could help her

On her first day on earth, Katie Trebing underwent a blood transfusion that would become the first of an expected lifetime of them. Diagnosed with a rare form of anemia, she would require a transfusion every month—or she would die. But even with a steady supply of red blood cells, iron would eventually accumulate in her heart and liver, potentially destroying her organs by the time she reached forty.

Faced with their daughter’s devastating prognosis, Stacy and Steve Trebing made the difficult decision to pursue the only known cure for Diamond Blackfan anemia: a bone marrow transplant from a genetically matched sibling. Using preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and in vitro fertilization, they would create a “savior sibling” for Katie, a lengthy and complex process rife with setbacks and pitfalls.

Using the Trebings’ dramatic and emotional story as an entry point, award-winning journalist Beth Whitehouse delves into the complex bioethics of PGD, asking every important question, from whether it is defensible to select embryos for certain traits, to who will protect the interests of the “savior sibling” created by scientific manipulation. The Match is a provocative look at bioethical problems that are certain to become more pressing.