I’ll give eggs to my infertile daughter to have a family when she grows up
A MOTHER is to donate her eggs to her infertile daughter, to allow her to have a family of her own.
Jenna Dye’s seven-year-old daughter Libby suffers f rom Turner syndrome, a rare genetic condition affecting her ovaries.
This means she will be unable to have her own children naturally.
But Mrs Dye, of Forfar, Angus, is determined Libby’s condition will not rob her of the chance to be a mother, so in a few months will have her eggs frozen for her to use in the future
The 31-year- old is believed to be the first woman in Scotland to undergo the procedure on behalf of someone with Turner syndrome.
If she uses the eggs, Libby’s child would also be her sibling. The baby would be Mrs Dye’s child and grandchild biologically, but she said: ‘My heart breaks when I see Libby playing with her dolls. She is too young to understand the full implications of her condition, but I don’t want her to be bitterly disappointed later in life. I know not everyone will agree with my decision – after all, my daughter could give birth to her own sibling.
‘Some parents put money away for their children. I am banking something much more precious – the gift of being a mum.’
Libby was diagnosed with Turner syndrome when she was six months old. One of its main features is infertility and scans showed that, instead of ovaries, Libby had two strips of tissue.
Mrs Dye said: ‘Both my husband Stuart and I were devastated by her diagnosis.’
The only hope was that Libby had a normal womb, meaning she could carry an embryo and give birth if she had an egg implanted. Mrs Dye approached Libby’s consultant at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, asking to donate her own eggs.
Since an NHS Tayside ethics committee approved the plan in 2011, she has been fundraising to save the £2,500 she needs for the procedure.
Now she is set to have her eggs frozen this year. She said: ‘We have been told that, if Libby does use my eggs in the future, both she and her brother Alfie will need counselling to help them come to terms with the fact that any baby she may have would be their brother or sister. Whether she decides to use them or not will be her choice – but at least I’m giving her that choice.’
Arlene Smyth of the Turner Syndrome Society said: ‘The reason mothers do this is understandable. While we support them in this, we would always encourage caution because we do not know whether these eggs will ever be viable.
‘We have to be careful not to raise the hopes of the children.’
‘She is too young to understand’