Fertility clinic appeals for ‘woman to woman’ egg donors
February 23, 2010
Midland Fertility Services is appealing to women to donate some of their eggs to another woman so that she can have a baby. The ‘Woman to Woman’ campaign shows that many women may benefit from sharing or receiving donor eggs.
Dr Gillian Lockwood, medical director of Midland Fertility Services launches the 'What do women really want?' poster campaign which appeals to women who need IVF to consider becoming egg share donors.
“The need for donor eggs vastly exceeds the availability,” said Dr Gillian Lockwood, medical director of Aldridge-based Midland Fertility Services (MFS). “For many women who are involuntarily childless, having IVF treatment using eggs donated by another woman is their only hope of ever becoming a mother.”
The ‘Woman to Woman’ campaign appeals to women who need IVF treatment but who have to pay for it. By becoming egg sharers and agreeing to donate half the eggs collected from their treatment cycle to another woman, they can start reduced cost, high quality treatment at MFS within weeks.
“Very few lesbians who need IVF are eligible for NHS-funded treatment, which may exclude them from the chance of ever being a mother,” continued Dr Lockwood. “Egg share donation enables women to have the IVF they may need, but for a fraction of the cost, whilst knowing that they are also helping another woman to have a baby.”
Newspaper and bus adverts around the region will ask ‘What do women really want?’ and encourage potential egg donors to contact MFS for more information.
“The adverts show that even a nice house, expensive holidays or a good career can come to mean little to a woman who wants to have a baby but who can’t get pregnant. To fulfil her dream, she may have to accept the amazing gift of another woman’s eggs,” said Dr Lockwood.
“Just as some people find satisfaction in ‘live’ organ donation, women who have been egg donors can enjoy the knowledge that they have given another woman a chance of getting pregnant and giving birth to the baby she’s always dreamed of having.”
Egg sharing was first introduced to MFS in 1990 and since 1998 almost 7% of all babies born from IVF and ICSI treatment at the clinic were conceived from donor eggs. Currently many women go abroad for treatment with donor eggs but many others resign themselves to a life without any child. Since 2005, when the law changed allowing donor-conceived people aged 18+years the right to know the identity of the donor, the number of egg and sperm donors declined rapidly. Donors are needed from all ethnic groups, particularly White, Indian, Pakistani and Black African.
A woman may need donor eggs for a variety of reasons, including premature menopause, infertility due to cancer treatment or the risk of passing on a serious genetic condition.
Charlotte Manning* from Staffordshire was diagnosed with premature menopause in 2005, aged 34. After waiting for two years for donor eggs she and her husband were told that MFS had matched her to a suitable donor. Following just a single cycle of IVF at MFS, their son was born in 2008.
“Words cannot express how I feel about the woman who gave me the greatest gift of all,” said Charlotte*. “That he was conceived from a donor egg makes no difference to how I feel about him - he has my husband’s genes, it’s my blood that flows through his veins and I gave birth to him. Everyday I look at my son and know how lucky I am.”
Egg donors are rigorously screened and MFS takes care to match the physical characteristics and ethnic groups of both donors and recipients. All women involved in egg donation at MFS are offered full support from the nursing and counselling teams to ensure they are happy with the decisions they take before any treatment begins.
For more information on becoming an egg donor, women should call MFS on 01922 455911 or visit www.midlandfertility.com.
