Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Henry Strongin Goldberg was diagnosed with a rare, almost-always fatal illness soon after he was born. His parents tried a controversial procedure to try to save his life; they attempted to make a new baby without the disease who could be a stem cell donor for Henry. Some denounced the process, saying it amounted to “harvesting” children. Henry’s parents underwent nine failed courses of in-vitro fertilization before giving up. Their son died in December of 2002 when he was just 7-years-old. Henry’s mother, Laurie Strongin, tells her very personal story in a new book called Saving Henry: A Mother’s Journey. Strongin has become an advocate for stem cell research since losing her son.