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Yahoo Parenting reported on Thursday that an 18-year-old girl who began her “transition” to male last year, took steps to ensure “he” could have a biologically-related child.
Cole Carman, who lives in San Francisco, decided that in addition to major surgery and hormone therapy she would undergo another medical procedure: having her eggs harvested.
The idea, however, came from the doctor treating Cole with hormones, according to Yahoo.
“I’ve always known I wanted to have kids of my own, so when my endocrinologist talked to me about it, it was a no-brainer,” Carman told Yahoo Parenting.
“During the procedure, a doctor used a needle to harvest as many egg follicles as possible, freezing them so they can be thawed and fertilized at some point in the future,” the report states.
It says transgender individual are discovering that changing one’s sex could make reproduction difficult.
“Some transgender people who realized after gender reassignment surgery that they wanted kids of their own had no chance, because they already had their reproductive organs removed,” Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh, a fertility specialist in San Ramon, Calif., told Yahoo Parenting.
“Others who didn’t have ‘bottom’ [sex-reassignment] surgery still had difficulty, because after years of testosterone therapy, their ovaries would shut down and would not reawaken to create any viable eggs, or the eggs would be low quality,” she said.
The report also notes that Cole has already had “top” surgery to remove her breasts.
“As for the eggs that he put on ice, Cole has no immediate plans to thaw them and become a dad,” the Yahoo report states. “He’ll be a first-year student at California State University at Sacramento in the fall, and plans to major in kinesiology.”
“Fatherhood is a way’s off, he says, ‘like in eight or 10 years.’ Whatever he decides, Cole at least has the option of someday having kids he’s genetically linked to,” the report states.
The report didn’t say whether, in addition to being a father, Cole may be those children’s mother as well.
“Carman may be the first transgender teen to have his eggs successfully harvested before transitioning — preserving his ability to have children that he’ll be biologically related to, whether he chooses to carry a child himself or turn to a surrogate,” the Yahoo report states.