The ethical dilemma

If you've ever read Jodi Piccoult's My Sister's Keeper, it's a question of ethics in conceiving a child for the sake of saving the sick child you already have. Beautifully written, I came out of that book feeling as confused and frustrated as I had in my Religious Ethics class sophomore year of college.

But it's not just a fictional novel, it's happening to our north in Canada, and it's reality.

Pam and Michael Obadia are hoping for a miracle.

At 47 years old, Pam Obadia knows her chances for conceiving a baby are slim, but "there are such things as miracles, so we are going to hope for that," she told CBC News on Monday.

The British Columbia, Canada, couple are trying to conceive a child so they can use the umbilical cord’s stem cells to save their son Ben, 8, who is battling leukemia, CBC News reported.

Fertility clinics in Vancouver, however, do not want to do the procedure, saying Pam Obadia is too old, she said. So the couple is planning to go to Chicago and will pay $25,000 of their own money to have the procedure since their health plan won't cover the expense.

Said Michael Obadia: "There are a few ethical questions, but when you are trying to save another child, to us, anyway, there is not a question."

I have a lot of questions regarding how the other child will feel, even amounts of love, etc., etc.

But one question is more pressing: what if it doesn't work to save Ben?