It’s so painful not being able to start a
Victoria Stockwell always wanted to be a mother. She never dreamed of running her own company or travelling the world. Instead she simply saw a family in her future.
But after the Government halted IVF treatments due to coronavirus, her hopes of having children began to slip away.
“This was possibly our last chance to have a baby – I’m heartbroken because all I want is to be a mum,” says the personal trainer.
Victoria, 36, has a diminished ovarian reserve, which means she has few eggs left in her ovaries and she’d pinned her hopes on her fourth cycle of IVF this month.
Victoria is one of thousands of women who have been hit by the closure of many IVF clinics in the UK and Europe due to the pandemic.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority ruled all NHS and private clinics must stop IVF treatment by April 15.
Gwenda Burns, chief executive of the charity Fertility Network UK, says: “More than 54,000 patients underwent 75,000 fertility treatments in 2017. If these numbers are similar for 2020, and we expect them to have increased, then this pandemic is silently affecting the lives of many more people than is immediately obvious.”
The tragedy is that many of these women are in their late 30s and have little time to delay.
According to Dr Marco Gaudoin, medical director of the GCRM fertility clinic in Glasgow, the success of fertility treatment is so age dependent that even a short hold-up will impact on women’s eggs. “From the age of 34 onwards, your odds of IVF working drop by 0.3% a month,” he says. “So after six months it’s dropped by 2%. For 41 year olds, the odds of successful IVF are 10 per cent, so if you let six months pass, that drop in two per cent leaves you with an eight per cent chance. That’s scary for women in their late 30s and early 40s.
The fading of her chances haunts Victoria, who has been with her husband Tom, 34, a concept artist, for 14 years. “I kept doing ovulation tests, but there was never a positive result,” she says.
After nine months of trying without success the couple saw their GP. “Tests showed I have the egg quantities of someone 10 years older.”
Doctors suggested IVF, but the Stockwells had to go private as IVF wasn’t offered on the NHS where they live in Ely, Cambs.
Victoria started her first cycle in May 2019 and two more followed. The upcoming fourth round felt like the couple’s last chance.
“We don’t have anything left: no embryos in the freezer and, after spending £15,000 on treatment, no money. When the clinics open, my low egg reserve means I don’t think I’m going to be able to try IVF again.”
But there is good news on the
SETBACK
Amelia, from Sussex, works with children with special needs: My husband and I started trying for a family three years ago, but nothing happened. I’m only
30 but I have premature ovarian failure, which means I have the egg reserve of a woman entering menopause, husband’s while my sperm had low morphology [abnormalities in size or shape]. My egg reserve is so low I didn’t meet my local authority’s NHS-funded criteria for IVF so we used our savings to pay for a private round of IVF last August. Sadly
I miscarried at six weeks and we were told we had only a five to 10% chance of having a genetic child.
We found a clinic in the Czech horizon - the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has given fertility clinics the go-ahead to apply to reopen in the week of May 11, after undergoing an assessment process on how a safe service can be delivered for patients and clinic staff. It said: “We expect that subject to satisfactory approval from the HFEA, patient treatment could begin shortly after.” Professor Geeta Nargund, medical director of Create Fertility, says in Germany clinics are continuing with some IVF treatments and Denmark is reopening some fertility clinics. She argues women with low egg reserves should be given priority when clinics reopen.
It’s good news for Victoria, but with no guarantee that her clinic will be given the green light to reopen, she’s still left with big questions about her future. “I’ve always had a back-up plan of using donor eggs and we’ve considered adoption, but I’m still grieving for the embryos that I’ve lost.
“I’m determined I’m going to have a child one way or another.”
Women with low egg reserves should be give priority
Republic offering donor eg including travel and accom for £6,000 [in the
UK this to £13,000].
Our first donor cycle wa for the end of April but in the Czech Republic closed What happens now is a tot When our clinic reopens prioritise local patients an resume, they will freeze th until the implications of co coronavirus during pregna known. That could be until created. I just keep thinkin We’re in a pandemic so I about my pain at not havin I want, but for us it’s a daily hurt and grief.