‘OUR FERTILITY TREATMENT WAS CANCELLED’

At the end of February, it still felt like the crisis might be averted. The news about coronavirus was terrifying but nothing felt certain. There was a hope – or perhaps it was a sense of collective denial – that we might be lucky. It might be like a meteorite that just misses Earth.

Back then I was most concerned about my own grief. My first round of IVF had failed. For 13 days my husband and I had clung nervously to the hope that we were pregnant. But then I got my period at work and, that evening, the second line on the pregnancy test never materialised. The next day, dazed and puffy-faced, we walked to the NHS hospital where we were receiving our fertility treatment for a blood test that would confirm the bad news.

Within a fortnight, that hospital was treating patients with Covid-19. Within six weeks, doctors and nurses working at that hospital had died of the virus. And within that context, all fertility treatment at the hospital was cancelled indefinitely.

In April, all fertility treatment in both private and NHS clinics was halted. Women halfway through cycles had to abandon them, losing hope and, crucially, time. That ban has since been lifted and fertility treatment can now go ahead if clinics can ensure the safety of patients. But when I call the fertility centre where we are being treated, a receptionist tells me that she has no idea when our clinic will reopen.

I had been saving over the past year, hoping that I would use the money to fund a maternity leave, but now I will use the money to investigate our options with private clinics. For people without the means to turn to private treatment, it must be truly devastating when the receptionist says she has no idea when the clinic will reopen.

Lynn is acting digital director of graziadaily.co.uk and author of ‘Vagina: A Re-education’