One Family’s Story:
A Message of Hope

In the spring of 2000, Raul Manrique was 30 years old, happily married to his high school sweetheart Veronica, and working in Atlanta when he was diagnosed with a giant cell tumor of the bone at the base of his skull. As he faced surgery to remove the tumor, the last thing on his mind was preserving his future fertility.

While his surgical team at Emory University Medical Center worked diligently for 12 hours to decompress the tumor and remove as much of it as possible, almost half of the tumor still remained, meaning Raul would face additional treatment to completely eliminate the tumor that had caused headaches and numbness in his arms and legs. Following careful evaluation, his medical team decided that radiation therapy would be the best option for further reducing the benign tumor. Unfortunately, this form of therapy was not successful for Raul, so his final option was to visit a medical oncologist at Emory.

It was in the office of Medical Oncologist Michael Fanucchi, M.D. that Raul and Veronica Manrique met Joan M. Giblin, MS, APRN-BC, AOCN, an Oncology Nurse Practitioner, who made a suggestion that would change their lives forever. Joan recommended that Raul consider contacting Xytex Tissue Storage (XTS) to discuss the possibility of storing his sperm long-term before starting chemotherapy.

“As parents ourselves, Dr. Fannuchi and I know what it means to have children, so we feel that it’s really important for people to know that as part of their personal journey they may wish to store for future children,” said Joan.

Raul and Veronica took Joan’s advice to heart and arranged with Xytex in Atlanta for Raul to make his first deposit on May 4, 2001. At Xytex the couple met Mary Hartley, a patient counselor, who advised them that three deposits are generally needed to ensure the best outcome for future inseminations. For Raul this would prove impossible as his tumor was growing aggressively and chemotherapy needed to start immediately. This one sample was divided into eight aliquots (equal fractions) and stored with Xytex Tissue Storage.

For the next eight months, Raul underwent chemotherapy three days a week, every three weeks with his wife always there to support him. During the treatment process his weight fell from a robust 180 pounds to a mere 95  pounds, but he and Veronica never gave up hope. “My wife was truly my strength during this bad dream,” said Raul.

“Throughout his treatment regimen, CT scans showed continued improvement until finally there was no evidence of progression,” said Joan, who along with Dr. Fanucchi celebrated this good news with the Manriques.

After a lengthy recovery, Raul was ready to get back to work in the financial services industry, so he and Veronica moved to Raleigh, N.C., in September 2003, where he began a new job. When they started discussing the possibility of having a child of their own, Veronica’s Obstetrician/Gynecologist Alan Segal, M.D. of Raleigh referred the couple to Marc Fritz, M.D., chief of Reproductive Endocrinology and Fertility at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

After their initial meeting to get the “big picture,” Dr. Fritz evaluated Veronica as a candidate for in vitro fertilization, wondering whether Raul’s post-thaw sperm would be viable considering his single sample and his health status at the time of his deposit.

Dr. Fritz asked Xytex to ship Raul’s sperm to Chapel Hill in preparation for the IVF procedure using Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI). “In case the post-thaw analysis of Raul’s sperm indicated it was not viable, we had asked the couple to define a back-up sperm donor, but miraculously, it was not necessary. Happily, this technology allows for such wonderful outcomes,” said Dr. Fritz, adding that only two aliquots were used for the ICSI procedure.

On Jan. 31, 2005, Veronica received two embryos and at six weeks, five days gestation, there was one viable embryo – a singleton that would grow into a healthy baby girl. Little Vera Bryana Manrique made her debut in Raleigh on Oct. 8, 2005.

Like parents everywhere, Raul and Veronica agree that baby Vera gives a whole new and very different meaning to life. Likewise, everyone involved in caring for this family over the past six years would agree with Dr. Fritz when he says, “It was a distinct pleasure to help the Manriques.”

Raul’s message is one of hope – a message that Xytex hopes physicians will take time to share with their patients whose future fertility is at risk.

Adapted from XytexXtra Spring 2006