𝗛𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗹𝘆, 𝗜 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗜’𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗜𝗩𝗙 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁. 𝗬𝗲𝘁, 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲.

Ronnie Chieng (you know him from The Daily Show), talks about his experience collecting, fertilizing, and freezing human embryos so that he and his wife can have children at some point in the future.

He shares the combination of angst, repulsion, and wonder he experienced going through the process. In describing each step, including having to inject his wife without medical training and mixing pharmaceuticals like some kind of pop-up drug lab, he turns the traditional sharing of the patient’s story on its head.

His jokes disrupt the tension of the tragedy-to-triumph narrative usually used to tell a patient’s story. Translating the relevant numbers into sports-themed stats Ronnie reaches out to a part of the audience often overlooked in reproductive health education: men.

But Ronnie isn’t just reaching out to people considering using IVF when he tells his story. His audience is anyone and everyone who might be affected, or knows someone who might be. If you didn’t come for the education of a health class, stay for the amusement of the jokes.

Beyond building understanding, Ronnie infuses his telling with emotion. We see his sarcastic persona crack ever so slightly when he shares the angst of having to inject the person he loves most in the world.

Yeah, there is a bit of chauvinism in his telling of the tail. But there is also raw honesty that casts that chauvinism as a defense mechanism.

At one point he sums up their chances of success in terms of a draft pick: “33% chance of successful implantation with grade-A embryos. So, I guess that makes me a mass murderer in Alabama.”

And in making his final point, he shows us the real world impact of politicizing reproductive health.

Ronnie’s telling goes beyond helping people experiencing IVF feel less alone — the usual justification for telling patient stories. Ronnie’s telling educates all of us, giving us the opportunity to explore where we stand, along with developing empathy.

I’d be interested in hearing his wife’s version. Juxtapose the two and you just might have an interesting theater piece.
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𝘙𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘨 – 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘏𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘐𝘵 can be seen on Netflix
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