I always thought that time was on my side. I was “youngish”, fit and healthy and looked many years younger than I actually was.
What I did not realize was that my eggs were not as young as I felt. When I initially reached out to my GP, he assured me that as long I was having periods, I could have a baby. Unfortunately, this information was incorrect. When I consulted a Fertility Specialist, I was given the cold, hard facts and they were not encouraging at my age.
I thought that IVF would be the solution, but this was not the case. IVF cannot overcome aged eggs. After a few attempts, donor eggs were mentioned. I could not get my head around this concept, and it took many months of talking to family and friends to have the courage to reach out and find out a little more about this.
I was in touch with Denyse from Donor Eggs Australia. She spent the most inordinate amount of time with me, explaining my particular situation, the physiology that this entailed, their programme of using fresh donor eggs only and the options available to me. She sent information out to me, and I was in touch many times and she was always available to answer my questions and understood the situation I was in mentally, physically and socially.
Then COVID hit our shores. In the beginning, I thought that things may be delayed by a few months but as we all know, this has turned into close to 20 months of shut borders. After being initially very frightened, my enduring desire to have a baby overcame whatever obstacles were in front of me. I decided to see whether I could get permission to leave the country to go through the programme for donor eggs overseas. Denyse was able to lobby on my behalf with the Department of Home Affairs, and I obtained permission to travel.
I left in September 2020 to go to Greece. Everything had been planned down to the last detail and co-ordinated by Donor Eggs Australia and the Greek Clinic. I underwent my treatment at the Clinic, luckily being able to work online with my job in Australia and returned into hotel quarantine which was not as bad as I had anticipated.
I have been rewarded by giving birth to my daughter in June this year and she has brought so much joy and happiness to our family especially during this last lockdown.
I cannot even express my gratitude to Denyse, Nikki and Dr Bernstein for seeing me through this programme with such attention to detail, care and concern. I even have embryos left over to try again when I am ready. If Covid has taught me anything, it is to seize every opportunity when it presents and never to put off for tomorrow, what can be done today.
MS.(2021)
*Stock images are used to protect the identity of our patients and their children.
