A chance to become parents - IVF

Hello everyone, thank you so much for looking at our fundraising page to help support our IVF journey.

 

My name is Emma. My husband, Andrew and I would desperately love to become parents so we have recently undergone IVF treatment via the NHS. Unfortunately, with this attempt, we were unsuccessful. Due to our postcode we are only allowed 1 round on the NHS instead of the national guidelines of 3 rounds (NICE) so we are now desperately trying to raise the funds to try again before it is too late.

 

We are in this position because I have stage 4 endometriosis which has severely damaged my ovaries and fallopian tubes and as we speak, continues to spread. This damage has left me with a very low egg reserve and this will only get worse as the endometriosis progresses so time really is running out for us. We have been given less than 1% chance of us conceiving naturally. Very soon, in order to stop the disease spreading further, I will need to go back on the contraceptive pill, meaning our chances will be actually 0%.

 

I have always had pain around my cycle and knew something was not right at a young age but like many other girls, I was just given the pill and told the pain was normal. After years of doctors appointments and being told nothing was showing up on blood tests, I was getting more and more poorly. The flare ups were so debilitating, I ended up with many hospital trips and had to stop working. I had to take numerous tablets every day to help cope with the pain.

 

Finally, after another A&E trip, I was allowed a scan showing large endometriomas in both my ovaries and the extensive damage inside (deep infiltrating endometriosis). I was then referred to an Endo specialist and surgery was discussed. Unfortunately there was a long waiting list of 1 - 2 years for the surgery and my quality of life and mental health were really suffering so much so that I was afraid to leave the house because during flare ups the pain would be so bad I would throw up and pass out.

 

Thankfully, my family grouped together and paid for my surgery. As I got better, I felt amazing. I could live life to the fullest again! I started my own business Frankie & Furfriends dog grooming, was able to go out with friends with no worries and go on long walks with my 2 dogs who I love so much. (Frankie & Winnie).

 

Once healed, the Endo specialist advised that we try to conceive naturally for 1.5 years then, if there was no joy, to go to a fertility clinic. I was so excited and optimistic at first but as each month passed with negative test after negative test, I was losing hope. A year and half passed by and it was time to go back to the doctors. Again I felt optimistic and full of hope when the doctor said we had 3 tries at IVF and so when we finally got an appointment at the clinic 6 months later to be told we only had 1 chance, we were devastated. They tried to make me feel better by saying that 1 try included any subsequent frozen embryo transfers from that cycle but again, because of the damage to my ovaries, I only managed to produce a small number of eggs and only 1 survived to blastocyst stage so there were no frozen reserve embryos to fall back on. I was upset but tried so hard to be positive to give myself the best chance of it working. The embryo was implanted and the long 14 day wait began. The days slowly ticked by until it was the day to do the pregnancy test. The test was negative….

 

I felt empty but then slowly started to panic. I started researching and quickly realised that the budget friendly Fertility Clinics have strict eligibility requirements to get in and due to my low AMH egg count, it would not be possible. I finally found a company that would be able to help, Access Fertility with partner clinic, Hull & East Riding Fertility. In order to continue our journey to becoming parents, we must find a large sum of money £15.5k and this is where we really need your help.

 

We would be so, so grateful if you could help us by making a donation, no matter how small, and if you are unable to donate but would still like to help, please can you share our page so we can reach as many kind people as possible.

 

If you are still reading at this stage we want to thank you so much for taking the time to hear our story.

 

All our love,

Emma, Andrew,

Frankie & Winnie