Payton/Sanders card to finance in vitro

• Tweet

HOUSTON, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- A Texas couple say they are hoping to turn a football card signed by two all-time NFL greats into a baby by auctioning the item on eBay.

Todd and Ula Nelkin of Houston are putting their rare card -- featuring former Detroit Lions star Barry Sanders and the late Chicago Bears great Walter Payton, and signed by both players -- up for sale on eBay the last week of October, ABC News reported Wednesday. Experts think the card could go for $20,000.

The money the Nelkins raise will go for one last try at in vitro fertilization.

The Nelkins, who are in their early 40s and own a sports memorabilia shop, have been trying to have a baby for several years, but their attempts to conceive naturally and two tries at in vitro fertilization have failed.

"We have a house payment, car payment, loan payment like everyone else and you reach a point where you say, 'OK, what are our other alternatives?' and having a card like this is a pretty amazing backdrop," Todd Nelkin said. "It's something to fall back on. We're hoping the right person sees the auction."

Yahoo!Sports.com reports the 1999 Donruss Elite Passing the Torch Autograph card is graded a Gem Mint 10 by Beckett Grading Services.

"This card is the only one of the 100 made to be graded a perfect 10 and I would like to think that maybe this could be the only card in the history of the world that could be responsible for a human life existing and that's a nice addition to the card," Todd Nelkin said.

Sanders told KTRK-TV, Houston, he supports the couple's cause "and since this one-of-a-kind item cannot be replaced, I wanted to send them another signed card to have in its place."