Mother’s blog of IVF sadness led to stranger’s gift of eggs
A WOMAN who shared her heartbreak at failed IVF attempts online has had eggs donated by a stranger who got in contact via social media.
Jules Furness, 35, a blogger, posted a video after her second try at fertility treatment with husband Steven, 34, an airport technician, was unsuccessful.
The clip was seen by Amber Wilde, 28, a mother-of-four, who contacted Mrs Furness via Facebook. Her message said: “This might be wildly inappropriate and please accept my apologies if so, but if altruistic egg donation would make IVF more affordable to you and you’re not horrified by my weirdo genetics I’d donate in a heartbeat.”
A year later, the eggs were combined with Steven’s sperm at a clinic, producing two healthy embryos last month. They will be tested further and the plan is for at least one to be transferred to Jules next month. The process costs £13,000 for up to three attempts, which is refunded if none are successful.
Jules said: “It was just an incredible thing for someone to offer. We wondered if it was really real, because it was just such a fairy tale.”
The couple, from Ipswich, Suffolk, were accepted onto the NHS donor egg list in 2010. An anonymous donor gave two eggs which were transferred to Mrs Furness in 2012, but were unsuccessful. They turned to adoption and were matched with Josh, their son.
A year ago the “broody” couple started thinking about increasing their family but couldn’t have Nhs-funded IVF due to already having a child.
They paid £3,500 for IVF in Prague in October last year. Two eggs failed and Jules recorded a video documenting the negative test which was watched by more than 9,000 people. Ms Wilde, a fellow video blogger for Channel Mum, spotted the post. She said: “While I was pretty spontaneous with my offer we definitely both gave it much more thought over the coming months.”
After six months of appointments and counselling, 10 eggs were retrieved, seven were fertilised and two healthy “perfect” embryos were produced.