BABY BOOM: Fertility specialists’ high success rates offer patients hope in becoming parents By Deborah Lynch
dlynch@harrisburgmagazine.com
F
orty-two years ago, the world was transfixed by science. The birth of the world’s first “test-tube baby” in England seemed like something out of an H.G. Wells novel or an old sci-fi movie. On July 25, 1978, Louise Brown gained worldwide fame as the first child born who was conceived by in vitro fertilization (IVF). People were astounded that a baby could be produced outside the human body. What next, they wondered? Four years later, her parents used in vitro fertilization treatments to conceive her sister Natalie, then the world’s 40th IVF baby. When Louise turned 40 in 2018, more than 8 million babies had been conceived through IVF treatments. Dr. Matthew Connell, a fertility specialist at Shady Grove Fertility (SGF) in Mechanicsburg, met Louise Brown at a medical conference, where she recounted her experiences from the book she wrote on the occasion of her 40th birthday. Today, Dr. Connell is helping men and women locally to achieve parenthood through a variety of assisted reproductive technology treatments and protocols. With infertility rates as high as one in eight couples, his clinical expertise and success rates are in high demand. For every couple that walks in through the door for a fertility evaluation, Dr. Connell said that infertility can be attributed to a male factor 40 percent of the time, a female factor 40 percent of the time, and to either both or unexplained 20 percent of the time. Since Dr. Connell joined SGF in late 2019, he estimates that he has helped achieve 30 to 40 pregnancies among couples, and single men and women. “I kind of feel like every time someone gets pregnant and we get to graduate them, that’s a victory,” he said. “So, it is very special every time.” Since SGF first opened its doors in 1991 with its flagship Rockville, MD, office — which is located on Shady Grove Road — more than 85,000 babies have been born, averaging 12 babies every day. The milestone has been made possible with SGF’s expanding offices, including 37 practices along the East Coast, of which 18 offer full-service fertility care. Pennsylvania residents do not have to search far for care with SGF’s five locations across the state. Dr. Connell currently sees patients 6 HARRISBURG MAGAZINE MARCH 2021
Connor Weigand and Clairen Percival knew from day one that having children would be a long fertility journey — after four years, they are due to have their first child in June. Photo by Mary Elizabeth Carson for Clairen Percival
at SGF’s Lancaster and Mechanicsburg (fullservice) locations. In Mechanicsburg, providers see patients from around the state including patients from State College and Pittsburgh.
“... every time someone gets pregnant and we get to graduate them, that’s a victory.” – Dr. Matthew Connell, Shady Grove Fertility physician A State College area couple, Clairen Percival and Connor Weigand, both in their 30s, knew from the onset that if they wanted children, they would either need to adopt or seek the help of a fertility clinic. In 2009, Percival was 22 and attending graduate school at the University of British Columbia when she got a bad case of strep throat that would not go away despite being on antibiotics. Finally, she went to the hospital where a bone marrow biopsy revealed she had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. After a long road to recovery
that included chemotherapy and cranial radiation, it was discovered that she also had a chromosome abnormality, which put her at high risk of relapse. The best treatment was a stem cell transplant, so when her brother Ryland matched, she got his stem cells in March 2010. Percival’s infertility was a result of the chemotherapy. “My fertility was not something that was discussed at the onset of my treatment… possibly out of necessity to begin treatment immediately,” she noted. “After the induction phase of chemotherapy, I did seek treatment from a fertility clinic in Toronto, but at that point, it was too late.” Percival and Weigand first started their fertility journey four years ago. After consulting multiple health-care providers, Shady Grove emerged as a good fit for the couple, who decided to seek an egg donor. SGF’s Donor Egg Program is the largest in the nation and is one of only a few centers that recruits, selects, and medically, psychologically, and genetically prescreens its own ready-to-cycle egg donors prior to making them available on their donor egg registry.
