A couple who lost their three children in a 2009 landslide in southern Taiwan recently welcomed twin boys and said they hope to have a third child with the help of advanced in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Chen Chen-jung (陳振榮), 51, and his 44-year-old wife, Cheng Hsiu-chen (鄭秀珍), yesterday held a celebration to welcome their twin sons who were born six weeks ago after years of reproductive treatments.
The couple’s two sons and a daughter, aged 15, 14 and 10 respectively, died on Aug. 9, 2009, when a landslide buried their mountain village in the then-Kaohsiung County during a typhoon.
Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei Times
The three children and Chen’s mother were among the 462 people killed in Siaolin Village (小林) in the mountainous Jiasian Township (甲仙) when Typhoon Morakot struck.
At the time, the couple was visiting Chen’s father in Namasiya District (那瑪夏) north of Jiasian and escaped the disaster.
Determined to restart their family, the couple about a year after the landslide started undergoing fertility treatments, including artificial insemination and IVF, according to a report in the Chinese-language United Daily News.
After six failed attempts, the couple last year turned to Lee Mao-sheng (李茂盛), a Taichung-based specialist in the field of reproductive medicine, the report said.
Using advanced IVF technology, Lee produced three embryos from the couple’s ova and sperm and implanted two of them in Cheng’s uterus, the report said.
The procedure was a success and Cheng gave birth to twins on Oct. 29 at Lee’s clinic, it said.
“They now have a chance to have three children again, because the third embryo is in storage,” Lee told the newspaper in May after it became clear that Cheng’s pregnancy was progressing well.
The couple yesterday cut a cake to celebrate the birth of the twins and a group of Siaolin Village survivors joined the celebrations.
Holding one of the twins, Chen said that he was grateful to his wife for the devotion and determination she has shown and to Lee for helping make their dream come true, the report said.
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
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