When Mary Ayala decided to have a baby to try to save her older daughter's life, she never expected to set of a national debate.
But her decision - to have that baby in the hope that it would be able to donate bone marrow to save leukemia-stricken Anissa - brought the Ayalas an unbelievable amount of attention. Anissa and her baby sister, Marissa, even ended up on the cover of Time magazine."We were all pretty overwhelmed by the news media, because we didn't really know what was going on," Mary Ayala said in a telephone interview. "And then when the bad press came out, we were afraid to talk to anyone."
The remarkable story of this family is dramatized in "For the Love of My Child: The Anissa Ayala Story," which airs tonight at 8 p.m. on Ch. 2.
While the Ayalas thought only of saving their daughter, various writers and commentators attacked their decision - calling it unethical, comparing it to breeding humans for "spare parts."
"We were shocked," Mary said. "We had never encountered anything with the press or with ethics. We didn't even think that this was an ethical issue. But, I guess, after you think about it, when it all sinks in you think, well . . .
"People have their own opinion and you can't take that away from them. But we also have our own opinion and we think what we did was right. It was the only thing we could do."
As Time termed it, "The baby did not consent to be used. The parents created the new life, then used that life for their own purposes, however noble. Would the baby have agreed to the transplant if she had been able to make the choice? Metaphysics: Would the baby have endorsed her own conception for such a purpose?"
The Ayalas had no such doubts. Their only worry - other than the slim chances of succeeded with their plans - was the reports that opponents of their plans would try to legally block the transplant. But for Marissa, who was 14 months old at the time, all that was a required was a 20-minute procedure to draw marrow from her hip. The most dangerous part for her was the anesthesia.
"It was done within 20 minutes," Mary said of the procedure, which was performed at mid-morning. "She was running down the corridors by 2 o'clock in the afternoon. I think children bounce back a lot faster than us old folks."
As portrayed in the movie, the Ayalas baby would have been loved and wanted even if she hadn't been able to be a donor. It was good fortune that she was - and one of several minor miracles that led to saving Anissa's life.
When Mary and Abe Ayala decided to try to have a baby, Abe first had to have a vasectomy surgically reversed - a procedure that is successful only 40 percent of the time. And Mary was attempting to get pregnant at the age of 43.
Even when she conceived, the chances of baby Marissa being a match were only one in four.
But Anissa's situation was desperate.
"Actually, they told us she could die at any time," Mary said.
Anissa's leukemia was in a chronic phase, but doctors told the family that it could take a turn for the worse on any given day. And, if that happened, even if a donor would found her chances of survival would be only 10 percent.
"It was very, very scary because even when we did get pregnant we had those nine months before the baby was born and then another 14 months for her to grow up to be big enough," Mary said. "We just thank the Lord that Anissa was stablized until that time.
"I think the hardest was for Anissa, trying to get up every morning and going about her business. I think at night it would really bother her - would tomorrow be the day? Will I wake up sick tomorrow?"
None of Anissa's relatives - even her brother - proved to be a match. And her chances of finding an unrelated donor were slim.
"When Anissa was first diagnosed, they told us the chances were one in 20,000 that we would find a donor. And in the national registry, there were 17,000 people," Mary said. "Now there are over 500,000 people registered."
The Ayalas agreed to participate in making the TV movie with the hope that it would help publicize that national registry.
"That's exactly the reason that we did the movie," she said. "For instance, the actors had never even heard of the story. You'd be surprised how many people have never even heard of bone-marrow transplants."
When first approached by dozens of producers, Mary said she and her family weren't interested.
"When the producers started calling and saying that they wanted to do a movie, we were kind of like, `Wow! This is so weird,' " she said. "We laughed about it. We couldn't understand why they were interested. But then after thinking about it, we realized this would be a good way of making people aware how much donors are needed and how many people they could save.
"It's been a lot of work and a lot of invasion of our privacy. But I think it's well worth it. I really think what we went through was well worth it because so many people did find out what it was to be a donor and we got a lot of people to be tested."
To be entered in that national registry requires only a blood test. And that blood test could end up saving someone's life.
"Anissa said, `I would think I would have been really pretty upset if I couldn't have had that fighting chance. Even if I would have died, I would have liked to have died at least having that chance,' Mary said.
As to the movie itself, the Ayalas are all pleased with the results - although watching it was an emotional experience.
"I cried through the whole movie," Mary said. "I couldn't put myself into it . . . but then it would hit me that it was us."
WHERE TO CALL: For more information and free literature on bone marrow transplantation, call the Leukemia Society of America at 1-800-955-4LSA.