New era for a couple with fighting spirit (From Oxford Mail)

New era for a couple with fighting spirit

7:30am Saturday 16th January 2010 in Editorial Comment

TODAY we share in the joy of Richard MacKenzie and his partner Jackie Wittwer, who are expecting their first baby.

This is the couple who repeatedly approached the county’s primary care trust to ask for IVF funding because they could not conceive naturally, but who were repeatedly turned down because they were too young to qualify.

After trying for a baby for six years, they refused to give up and began a campaign to get the NHS to fund IVF for younger couples.

Mr Mackenzie launched a petition calling for the PCT to implement guidance that couples as young as 23 should be eligible.

It attracted hundreds of signatures and took the fight to the county’s most senior health officials.

Some people keep quiet when they see something they perceive as an injustice. Others, it seems, stand up and fight.

We applaud the couple for their campaigning spirit, although today isn’t about protests and petitions.

For Richard and Jackie it’s about much, much more, and we would like to wish them both all the best in their new adventure. That said, it is a testament to Mr Mackenzie that despite his personal joy he has vowed to fight on, on behalf of other couples trying for a baby.