Marissa Evans, broken-hearted, watched her 21-year-old son die in hospital. When doctors told her it was time to turn off his life support, the 44-year-old chose to harvest his sperm – to try to accomplish his goal to have a son. This summer the divorced single woman hopes to satisfy her longing to have a grandson when a surrogate is impregnated with her son’s sperm – and an egg from a donor she hand-picked. “The weekend before he died we were talking about what a great dad he would be,” she said. “And we were saying I'd be a good grandma too. Then just a week later all that suddenly changed.”

Her son was killed in 2009 following a bar brawl from which he suffered a devastating brain injury. He underwent two brain surgeries but never woke up. Just over a week after the incident, his mother appealed at the Guy Herman Probate Court in Travis County for the right to harvest his sperm. “I told the court that I wanted my grandchild,” said Evans. “The judge gave me the sweetest look and nobody objected.” The next morning, doctors extracted 20 vials of sperm – enough for several attempts at artificial pregnancy, which often takes several attempts to work.

Marissa Evans searched abroad for clinics that would allow her to make several attempts at impregnating a surrogate. She found a clinic in Mexico that will let her use one of their registered surrogates for £18,000. She is seeking donations to pay for the procedure. She has been criticised by many, including her son’s father (her ex-husband). While she will never meet the surrogate, she was able to pick from a number of profiles for the egg donor. She says, “I chose the donor based on who I thought my son would think was attractive. He didn't have a type as such but he seemed to prefer lighter hair, lighter eyes.”

 “I definitely know I’m doing the right thing,” she said. ~ Daily Mail, Jul 5