Did my eggs give another woman the child I craved?
A WOMAN who was convinced to share 40 eggs in return for free IVF told of her regret last night.
Gail Collins was desperate for a baby and could not afford the fertility treatment she needed.
But her IVF did not work – and now she wonders if other families are raising her genetic children.
Mrs Collins, 45, said she was in the ‘wrong state of mind’ when she was convinced to share her eggs by a private IVF clinic.
She feels doctors took advantage of her when she was ‘so desperate you’ll do anything for a baby’.
Mrs Collins and her husband Craig were told they would almost certainly never conceive naturally.
Her eggs were healthy – but she had polycystic ovaries, caused by a hormone imbalance, and blocked fallopian tubes.
They were on a waiting list for four years before starting IVF treatment on the NHS. But fertility drugs gave Mrs Collins, from North Skelton, Cleveland, terrible sideeffects including ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), in which the ovaries grow massively causing severe back pain, bloating and breathlessness, and she had to be hospitalised for three days.
However, the treatment worked and she gave birth to her son, Thomas, in 1 8.
Seven years later, she heard a radio advert for free IVF in return for donated eggs. She and her husband, now 50, could not afford private treatment and believed IVF would work again for them.
Mrs Collins said she wanted another child so much, she blocked out any thoughts of what might happen to the other eggs, or how ill the treatment would make her.
Over the next year, she had three rounds of IVF at a private clinic which has now closed, producing
80 eggs, of which she shared 40. She was in agony and was admitted to hospital again with OHSS. She did not become pregnant.
She had one short counselling session, which she now believes was completely insufficient.
‘It was my only chance and at the time I didn’t think about the consequences,’ she said.
‘I kept thinking, “Has somebody else been successful?” I wondered if I had a child that was genetically mine somewhere.
‘It weighed heavily on me. You start to question everything. Did the recipient get the better quality eggs? If I had my time over again, I wouldn’t do it.’
The ordeal almost ruined Mrs Collins’s marriage, she said, adding: ‘For somebody to do three cycles of IVF in a year is wrong, physically and emotionally. With my history of OHSS, shouldn’t the consultants have said it wasn’t a good idea to donate?’
In the end, Mrs Collins decided to stop treatment to save her relationship with her husband.