KEY POINTS:
A Whangaparaoa couple has setup a website to raise money to reverse a vasectomy.
Maria, who owns her own beauty therapy business, and Brian, a bricklayer formerly of Gloucestershire, decided to set up a website www.sponsorababy.wetpaint.com hoping visitors to the site would empathise with their situation and donate money.
"We already have four children, but not together," Maria says. The government will fund the vasectomy reversal operation, but candidates are assessed using a points system and end up on a waiting list. "Because we have children we're way down the list," she says.
According to their website Brian had a vasectomy 7 years ago and thought he did not want any further children until he met Maria (known best as Mia).
"But now his mind has changed since we madly fell in love. We were married in December last year and we're living happily ever after. We would love to have a baby together to complete our family but the reversal cost is $7,000 and we cannot squeeze it out of the budget anyhow!
"I thought why not? Crazier things have happened on the web so why not 'put it out there and see what happens!'. There is no better gift you could give someone than this! The miracle of life!"
Maria says her idea was inspired by the woman in the US who set up a website and encouraged visitors to the site to donate money and pay off her credit card debt.
The couple promise that they would look after any child well.
"We have a home, both work and lots of love. No we don't have spare cash sitting in the bank for this operation, but that's not unusual for a young family and it would be about 2 years before a birth with times we have been given."
The stunt has received mixed feedback from readers of online magazine website www.spareroom.co.nz, which is run by NZ Herald Sideswipe columnist Ana Samways, where the story was first published.
"If a baby was so important, why did they not scale back on the wedding or the house?" says one reader.
- NZHERALD STAFF
