Editorials and Perspectives haematologica | 2012; 97(4) 479 Conceiving a hematopoietic stem cell donor: twenty-five years after our decision

To conceive a child to save a child Planning the birth of a baby who could be a hematopoi-etic stem cell (HSC) donor for an older brother or sister affected by a pathology which can be treated by sibling HLA-compatible HSC transplant represents an “extreme remedy ” as opposed to an “extreme evil”.1 We first faced this problem 25 years ago when the question was whether it was ethically acceptable to conceive one baby to “save” another. In October 1984, a couple was informed that their only daughter, who at the time was four years old, had been diagnosed with Ph+ chronic myeloid leukemia. They asked if it were possible to treat their daughter by bone marrow transplant. They had considered trying to conceive another child, hoping that this new baby would be HLA-compatible with the sister. We replied that thi