Miracle babies for wounded British soldiers who stepped on Taliban landmines

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Pioneering British treatment lets doctors salvage sperm from the wounded
Private Shaun Stocker lost legs and testicles in Afghan IED blast
But procedure allowed doctors to recover and freeze some of his sperm
It has now been used in IVF treatment to impregnate his fiancee, Persia

By Mark Nicol and Andy Gardner For The Mail On Sunday

Published: 17:27 EST, 26 September 2015 | Updated: 02:29 EST, 27 September 2015

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Joy: Private Shaun Stocker, lost his testicles when he stepped on an IED aged 19 - but is now due a son with his fiancee Persia Haghighi on Christmas day

Five British soldiers whose reproductive organs were destroyed when they stepped on Taliban landmines in Afghanistan have become fathers thanks to a revolutionary medical procedure pioneered by UK scientists.

The operation involves recovering sperm from a casualty within 48 hours of them being wounded on the battlefield.

The technique, which is only available in Britain, was developed by Dr Jackson Kirkman-Brown and his colleagues at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.

He said: ‘Back in 2010 we started seeing more members of the Armed Forces surviving incidents when previously they would have died.

‘However, some of their wounds to the genital area were severe and affected their fertility, so our team invented an operation which we could carry out a few days after the injury.

‘There is a window of opportunity of 24 to 48 hours to find healthy sperm that existed prior to injury, in a tube called the vas deferens.

'It is protected deep within the body and is usually OK even if the soldier has extensive blast injuries.’

Previously, soldiers who had lost their testicles in bomb blasts were unable to conceive children unless they had frozen sperm before going to war.

Private Shaun Stocker, from Wrexham, North Wales, was 19 when he was severely wounded after treading on an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in Helmand province in April 2010. He is expecting to become father to a boy on Christmas Day.

Shaun, from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, the Royal Welsh Regiment, was blinded and lost his legs in the blast. He also spent two months in an induced coma.

Shaun, now 25, said: ‘There was nothing where my testicles were supposed to be. I was single then and I doubted any woman would want to be with me.

‘Not having any sperm in a sperm bank, I figured my chances of having children had gone. But then Dr Kirkman-Brown told me that while I’d been in the coma he had operated on me, found some sperm and frozen it. It gave me hope.’

Shaun then began a long recovery battle, spending several months at Headley Court, the Army’s rehabilitation centre for wounded personnel in Surrey. He was later honoured by the Queen for his service in Afghanistan.

He met his fiancee Persia Haghighi, 24, from Chester, through mutual friends and proposed in September 2014. Persia said: ‘The following month we went to Birmingham to speak to Dr Kirkman-Brown and arrange for me to begin IVF treatment. In April we found out I was pregnant.

Honour: The Queen presented Shaun with the Afghan Campaign Medal in 2010

‘It was simply a joyous moment, in particular for Shaun who has gone through so much.’

As a token of their appreciation towards Dr Kirkman-Brown, Shaun and Persia will give their son the middle name Jackson.

The MoD said: ‘Sperm salvage is now a core part of our initial combat trauma care. This approach helps casualties cope with their injuries and gives them hope. A number of children have been born as a result and more are on the way.’

In March, Shaun plans to walk 60 miles across North Wales on behalf of Blind Veterans UK. He has started a fundraising page on the Just Giving website.