Alexander The Great

There is very instructive incident involving the life of Alexander, the Greek king.Alexander, after conquering many kingdoms, was returning home. On the way, he fell ill and it took him to his death bed. With death staring him in his face, Alexander realized how his conquests, his great army, his sharp sword and all his wealth were of no consequence.He now longed to reach home to see his mother's face and bid her his last adieu. But, he had to accept the fact that his sinking health would not permit Him to reach his distant homeland. So,The mighty conqueror lay prostrate and pale, helplessly waiting to breathe his last. He called his generals and said, "I will depart from this world soon,I have three wishes, please carry them out without fail." With tears flowing down their cheeks, the generals agreed to abide by their king's last wishes.."My first desire is that," said Alexander, "My physicians alone must carry my coffin." After a pause, he continued, "Secondly, I desire that when my coffin is being carried to the grave, the path leading to the graveyard be strewn with gold, silver and precious stones which I have collected in my treasury."The king felt exhausted after saying this. He took a minute's rest and continued. "My third and last wish is that both my hands be kept dangling out of my coffin."The people who had gathered there wondered at the king's strange wishes. But no one dare bring the question to their lips. Alexander's favorite general kissed his hand and pressed them to his heart. "O king, we assure you that your wishes will all be fulfilled. But tell us why do you make such strange wishes?"At this Alexander took a deep breath and said: "I would like the world to know of the three lessons I have just learnt. Lessons to learn from last 3 wishes of King Alexander... I want my physicians to carry my coffin because people should realize that no doctor can really cure any body. They are powerless and cannot save a person from the clutches of death. So let not people take life for granted..The second wish of strewing gold, silver and other riches on the way to the graveyard is to tell People that not even a fraction of gold will come with me. I spent all my life earning riches but cannot take anything with me. Let people realize that it is a sheer waste of time to chase wealth.And about my third wish of having my hands dangling out of the coffin, I wish people to know that I came empty handed into this world and empty handed I go out of this world."With these words, the king closed his eyes. Soon he let death conquer him and breathed his last. . .....

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It's from here to paternity as smoker swaps habit for baby

Rachel Devine's infertility problems disappeared in a puff of smoke after her husband James gave up cigarettes to boost his chances of becoming a father. The self-employed electrician was warned by a specialist that his 30-a-day £45-a-week habit was ruining the Rotherham couple's chances of parenthood.

Desperate to be a father after three fruitless years of trying, Mr Devine tossed his lighter in the bin, enrolled on an NHS anti-smoking course and took to wearing nicotine patches straight away.

Mrs Devine found out she was expecting just eight weeks later – and now the couple are celebrating the arrival of baby Ben at Rotherham District General Hospital.

Mrs Devine paid tribute to her other half yesterday for beating the weed and coming up trumps in the paternity stakes.

The florist, 29, said: "I'm just grateful that James listened to the specialist and did the right thing – if he hadn't then Ben probably wouldn't be here now.

"I'd been nagging him to stop smoking for ages and ages, and he'd manage it for two or three weeks, then he'd slip back to his old ways.

"I didn't imagine he'd ever really give up, but everything changed once the specialist spelled out how it was damaging our chances of having a baby."

Mr Devine signed up for the anti smoking course within minutes of leaving the specialist's office at the hospital.

Mrs Devine added: "We'd been having tests and treatment for 16 months when the specialist asked James about his smoking.

"We'd not given it a thought till then, but the specialist said there was every chance that the cigarettes were damaging James's sperm count."

Mr Devine, 31, has no intention of lighting up ever again. "I hope other smokers take notice of what happened to us. It's not been easy, but I only have to look at Ben to know it was all worthwhile.

"I'll never pick up another packet of cigarettes again – apart from the cost, I want to be around to see Ben grow up."

Women are risking their lives to have IVF babies

Women are risking death and bankruptcy in their desperation to become mothers, according to Professor Sammy Lee, one of the country's leading experts on infertility.

Some couples going through fertility treatment are driven by an urge "stronger than addiction and more powerful than obsession", said Lee, who pioneered egg donation in the UK when he was chief scientist of the IVF programme at Wellington Hospital, London.

"The quest to have children can become a vortex that gets faster and faster and sucks people in. Women will sell everything and anything to have the treatment if they are short of funds. They will risk their lives, there's no doubt about it," said Lee, who will discuss the issue on Friday when he chairs a major conference, Motherhood in the 21st Century, at University College, London.

"I have treated young women with cancer who have refused to have treatment for their illness until they have got pregnant and given birth, knowing they are risking their lives," added Lee, who has helped some couples through 12 cycles of IVF. The maximum number of treatments provided on the NHS is three. "Some of these women do, indeed, go on to die [from the cancer], but they die happy, feeling that they have achieved something greater than their own continued existence."

He admitted that the determination of couples to have children can lead to clinicians continuing treatment when they know there is little chance of success. "Everyone involved in these scenarios is trying to do the right thing, but the extraordinary energy of a couple's determination creates a vicious circle.

"The advances of science seem to promise women everlasting hope, which means they put ever more trust and hope in the doctors.

"Clinicians, such as myself, should refuse to treat these couples because further treatment is highly unlikely to work, but after helping that couple through three IVF attempts, you can get too pulled in to insist that enough is enough. This is how couples become implicit in their own abuse. Even if you do tell them you will no longer help them, they often just go and get treatment across the street," Lee added. "Then when they get too old to be treated in this country, they go abroad. That makes them vulnerable to yet more abuse, although again, it is abuse in which they are complicit.

"These are often professional, streetwise women who know the physical, mental and financial dangers, but who are prepared to take any risk if it offers even a sliver of hope they might end up with a baby."

Infertility affects about one in seven couples – approximately 3.5 million people. Most of the women will eventually become pregnant naturally, but a significant minority will not. At least 44,000 a year undergo IVF treatment , with about 11,000 IVF babies born every year.

Rebecca Frayn, a film-maker, screenwriter and novelist, has spoken of her fears when she chose to go through IVF. "Couples undergoing IVF are set on achieving a baby at any cost, often developing a kind of wilful moral myopia about the risks in order to avoid being deflected from their goal. I know, because it happened to me," she said. "I had questions about the cancer scares associated with all the hormones I would be required to ingest.

"Liz Tilberis and Ruth Picardie, both journalists who died respectively of ovarian and breast cancer after many rounds of IVF, believed their treatment had caused and accelerated their cancers, respectively," she added. "To attempt to achieve life at the potential expense of one's own [health] is self-evidently sobering. Yet, even then, I somehow squared what I was contemplating doing with my conscience. I was in the iron grip of procreation fever."

Dr Mark Hamilton, consultant gynaecologist at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital, has treated couples who insisted on having up to 10 attempts. "The number of cycles people are prepared to have has increased in the last few years," he said.

But Dr Tony Rutherford, chairman of the British Fertility Society, said that for some patients it was necessary to exhaust all possible options. "I have patients who undergo treatment even though I've counselled them that their chance of success is less than 5%," he said.

"I also counsel couples for whom the chance of experiencing complications through IVF is equal to their chance of success, or for whom being pregnant would be very dangerous. But for many couples having the treatment becomes key in their ability to reach closure."