Paul ‘Macca’ McKenzie sustained a spinal cord injury at the age of 30 – that was over 20 years ago. And now, Macca has just become a father for the first time thanks to a decision he made when he was newly injured.
“When I broke my neck there was a visiting Chinese doctor in Echuca and he removed the sperm from me at the time and it’s been frozen since.”
Macca and his partner Jess met in Melbourne at a spinal cord injury unit where Macca was a peer mentor. The couple hit it off and decided to start a family together via in vitro fertilization using Macca’s frozen sperm. Jess became pregnant on the very first try: “First pitch bang, we hit a home run,” shares Macca.
Macca and Jess are now the proud parents of a baby girl. The family makes their home in Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia where the year-round warmth helps Macca with issues secondary to a spinal cord injury like nerve pain. Currently there are no organizations in the Northern Territory to help people with spinal cord injuries, so Macca hopes to change that.
But for now, the proud dad is happy doting on his baby girl. He and Jess are even considering expanding their family in the future as they still have two viable embryos. “I never say never, not after what has happened to me,” shares Macca. “Jess is certainly young enough to have more children, and I am young enough at heart!”
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