Our £10k loan baby
After 23 years of heartache, couple borrow for one last try at IVF … and look how it paid off!
AFTER 23 years of trying for a baby, Carolyn Lipczynski cannot contain her delight at finally being able to hold her daughter in her arms.
The 48-year- old NHS administrator r suffered three lost pregnancies and five e failed rounds of IVF, and was turned d down when she and her husband d Michal tried to adopt.
Short of money and desperate to become e a mother before she turned 50, Mrs Lipczynski - took out a £10,000 loan to fund a sixth and final attempt at IVF.
Happily, this time it worked and she e became pregnant. Despite a few scares along the way, she gave birth to Kayleigh – her ‘little miracle’ – two weeks ago.
‘When the doctors lifted her up and I saw w her for the first time I couldn’t breathe. I loved her so much straight away but I couldn’t believe she was mine,’ Mrs s Lipczynski said.
‘People told me it would feel this way but t I wasn’t prepared for that feeling of loving g something so much it physically hurt.
‘Whenever I look at her I just think she’s s amazing – even when she is screaming at t three o’clock in the morning. She truly is our little miracle.’
Kayleigh, who weighed 6lb 4oz, was born by caesarean section after induced labour was unsuccessful.
Mrs Lipczynski, from Bromley, South East London, suffered two ectopic pregnancies and a miscarriage in her 20s, leaving her unable to conceive naturally. She missed out on NHS-funded IVF because it was not offered in her area at the time. Funding was introduced just after she turned 35, the cut-off age.
She spent more than £20,000 on five rounds of IVF with a previous partner, who she was with for 12 years, without success. After she married NHS ophthalmology technician Michal, 34, in 2009, they made three attempts to adopt. But they were turned down each time because they did not have £5,000 in savings.
Realising they had no other option, the couple started saving for a final IVF attempt but struggled to raise the funds.
They decided to borrow the £ 10,000 they needed from Amigo Loans – which charges an average interest rate of 49.9 per cent APR on its guartheir
‘She truly is our little miracle’
antor loans – because it was the only company prepared to lend the full amount. Paying the loan back in full over five years, as they had planned, would have cost nearly £ 24,000. But after hearing heart- warming story, Amigo wrote off the loan.
Mrs Lipczynski said: ‘When you get to my age it’s about months not years when it comes to having a baby. We were trying to save but we were running out of time so we made the decision to take out a loan. We’d budgeted for it and knew we could afford it but we never in a million years expected them to wipe our debts. It’s incredible – I nearly passed out when they told me.
‘But even if we had had to pay back the whole loan in full it would have been worth every penny. Kayleigh wouldn’t be here if we hadn’t taken it out and she is priceless.’
Mrs Lipczynski, who named Kayleigh after a friend who died, said that being a new mother at 48 was ‘ a bit of a shock to the system’ but that she ‘adored’ it.
Her husband added: ‘It’s hard to describe how incredible it is to have her here after everything we’ve gone through and that Carolyn’s gone through.
‘Kayleigh’s definitely got a strong, independent character already – like her mother. We have no regrets at all about taking out the loan, it may not be right for everyone but it was the right thing for us.’
Kelly Davies of Amigo said: ‘It’s been an honour getting to know Carolyn and Mick over the last year and to have shared their journey. Everyone at Amigo is so delighted for them and we are proud to have played a tiny part in helping them to achieve their dream.’