My daughter was the last wish of a stranger before her death

In 2013, Liat Malka was a kindergarten teacher who lived in southern Israel. She was single, she was 35 years old and at that moment she felt the urgency of her biological clock.

"I was afraid that time would pbad and I might miss motherhood," said Liat. "So I went to the doctor and did fertility tests."

The results suggest that Liat's ovarian reserve was low. The doctor warned that while he was waiting for the right person, he could never be a mother.

"So I immediately decided to do everything in my power to have a baby as soon as possible," Liat said.

The Pozniansky and their son Baruch

Back home, he logged in online to explore his options.

"I really wanted my son to know his father, and it was not possible with a sperm donor." "And having someone with whom to have a child is also very complicated."

But then, Liat had an interview for YouTube that had been broadcast on TV in 2009. In this one, the couple composed of Vlad and Julia Pozniansky explained that they were trying to get legal permission from To have a baby using the sperm left by their son. , who died the year before. They had already found a woman who would be the mother of her son's baby.

Liat then asked if a similar arrangement could be an option for her: "Because the baby could well know who his father was, know his story, have grandparents and a family," he says.

He decided to contact the couple's lawyer to ask for more details. He could then know that, although four years had pbaded since the interview, Vlad and Julia still had no grandchild and that the woman who would become the mother of the baby n & # 39; 39, was more in agreement.

Liat made an appointment to meet the Poznianskys and the day of the meeting, the couple took an album full of pictures of their son, Baruch.

More than ten years after her death, Julia still found it almost unbearable to talk about the loss of her son.

"Baruch was a brilliant and spectacular person," she says. "But it's very painful for me to talk about him."

At age 23, Baruch, who was studying ecology at Technion, a reputable university in Haifa, noticed a mouth injury that never blew. Later, he was diagnosed with cancer.

Since chemotherapy can decrease or completely stop sperm production, part of Baruch's sperm has been stored and frozen before the start of treatment. He lost his hair and eventually the doctors had to remove some of his tongue, leaving him unable to speak, but not before making a wish.

"He said that if he died, he wanted us to find a suitable woman and use her sperm to have a child," says Julia.

A living will

Baruch died on November 7, 2008 at age 25, single and childless.

Before his death, Baruch had created a living will, a document that linked a person's wishes to any biological heritage. There he described his desire that the sperm that he had stored be used to have his son after his departure. Baruch was the first person in the world to create such a testament.

Almost immediately, Julia went to work to try to fulfill the wish of her dead son. Not only did he have to find a wife to be the mother of the child, but he also had to get permission from an Israeli court to gain access to sperm.

Finally, Vlad and Julia found an Israeli woman of Russian descent who thought she could be the mother of her grandson. They went to court to get permission to use Baruch's sperm and were successful, but two weeks later, the woman had met a new partner and had broken their agreement.

"Another girl came to see us, very well," Julia said. The woman's name was added to the court verdict, instead of the first woman's, and the process of in vitro fertilization began. But after seven attempts, the woman could not conceive, leaving Baruch's sperm supply almost exhausted.

Despite Julia's devastation following the loss of her son, as well as the failures and disappointments encountered in her attempts to satisfy Baruch's last wish, she has regained the resolve to move on.

"I wanted my son to continue living, somewhere deep in my heart, I wanted him to come back physically, I thought that a child like Baruch might be born."

Not knowing how long it would take or if she could ever realize Baruch's last wish, Julia was eager to have a baby in her life. At the age of 55, she and Vlad started trying to have their own child by in vitro fertilization and a donor egg.

At the birth of her son, Julia said that she wanted to breathe fresh air.

"Looking at the pictures, I knew what kind of person he was"

Julia clearly remembers the day she and her husband first met Liat in early 2013.

"I was a pretty girl, I loved her from the beginning," says Julia. "I saw that she was the right person."

He showed the photo album of Liat Baruch and Liat said that he felt an immediate connection with him.

"Looking at the pictures, I knew what kind of person he was, with those eyes, the biggest smile you could imagine, surrounded by friends and very handsome," he says.

"And it seemed like he was really bonded to his parents because on every picture they shake hands and kiss, I could see the love and happiness in his eyes: he does not was no doubt that he was a great person. "

When Julia showed the photos to Liat, she explained to him how Baruch enjoyed life, how clever he was, how sociable he was, how much he loved cooking and who his friends were.

At that time, Liat decided that he wanted Baruch, a man he had not met and who had died five years earlier, to be the father of his son.

The treatment

Liat, Vlad and Julia signed the contracts granting Liat the property of sperm so that no one else could use it later. The contract also formalized arrangements for Vlad and Julia to visit them.

"To protect our rights to see the child," says Julia. "We did it not only to fulfill Baruch's will, but also to have a dear grandson."

There was no exchange of money, which was very important for Vlad and Julia, in order to avoid attracting the wrong kind of person.

Liat started fertility treatment, but her first attempt at in vitro fertilization failed. There was only one egg.

He tried to keep hope, but despite the increase in the dose of medicine helping the ovaries to produce more eggs, on the second attempt, there was more than one only egg.

"They fertilized it and had to wait a day, then call to see if it became an embryo," Liat said.

This time there was good news.

The fertilized egg was transferred to the uterus of Liat. For a week, she sat, waited and waited, then took a pregnancy test and called the hospital to get the results.

"They shouted," Yes, you are pregnant, "says Liat.

Liat shared this exciting news first with her sister, then with Julia.

"I was in shock, I did not think it could happen," admits Liat. "Then, when it happened, I just could not believe it, I did not even know Vlad and Julia, I only saw them two or maybe three times."

Liat was worried about how his own family could take Baruch's family: his parents came from Morocco to Israel, while Vlad and Julia came from Russia, he said. The two families were very different culturally.

To compound his doubts, Liat had not yet spoken to his own mother about his meeting with Vlad and Julia, nor about plans to become the mother of his dead son's son.

"I did not want to burden everyone's opinions, especially my mother, so I kept it secret," he says. "But when I called her to tell her that I was pregnant, she was happy, at least I was going to have a baby!"

Liat's pregnancy has progressed but her doubts have not diminished. She was very stressed and could not try to make a relationship with Vlad and Julia while her baby was growing up. At night, he dreamed of the appearance of his son.

Julia was also worried. I wanted to be close to Liat, but respect her wishes and keep her distance at the same time.

"I spoke to a family member, a very intelligent woman, and he said: 'Let her have her baby and everything will be fine,'" Julia said.

The arrival of Shira

When she started work, Liat felt uncomfortable calling Julia to tell him the news and she told her own mother not to go to work. hospital that night because a doctor had told him that it was unlikely that the baby would arrive. before morning.

"But at midnight, he had an impression, he took a taxi and arrived at the hospital at the last minute," Liat said. "I was very happy that he came in. My two sisters were also with me and I have a sister in the United States who used Skype." It was a truly amazing experience. "

Shira was born on December 1, 2015, more than seven years after her father's death.

"It's exactly how I dreamed it," says Liat. "She was so pretty that I could not believe it."

Liat called Vlad and Julia to announce the news.

"I felt my heart start beating for the first time since my terrible loss," says Julia.

Baruch's photos taken by Julia when she met Liat are now in Liat and Shira's apartment in Ashkelon, Israel, and they often watch them together, talking about the man who smiles at them. Liat points to Baruch's blue eyes, like Shira's.

"One day, he said to me," Maybe he's going to knock on the door and come see us, "Liat said." Then I said, "No , he will not come."

Shira is now three years old. His mother sometimes fears not having a father.

"But today, you have several types of family," says Liat, "It's only one, Shira knows she has no father, but she is very expensive and very happy. "

And after fulfilling her son's last wish, Julia has no doubt about what she did and is sure that Baruch would also like her daughter.

"She is beautiful, she is smart, she is happy, she is all that one can wish for a child," Julia says. "It's perfect, it's really perfect." (BBC)