My miracle IVF baby at 53
...After 25 years of failed attempts costing almost £100,000
IT’S a time of life when most mothers are enjoying more time to themselves as their children get older – with some having already become grandmothers.
But one Scots mother is delighted to postpone all that, having given birth to her ‘miracle’ baby at the age of 53 after 25 years of failed fertility procedures.
Helen Dalglish had endured 21 gruelling rounds of treatment at a cost of almost £100,000.
Ms Dalglish, from Glasgow, underwent the successful IVF procedure that led to the birth of daughter Daisy Grace in Cyprus, where she lives with her partner.
Now 54, she has spoken of her joy at finally giving birth last year after refusing to give up on her dream.
She said: ‘When you get that little miracle at the end, you forget about the 25 years.
‘I was looking down and the bump was getting bigger and I thought, “Am I dreaming?” Even now, looking at her I can’t believe I’m a mum. It’s surreal.’
Ms Dalglish first moved to Cyprus in her 20s and originally began trying for a
‘Sometimes it got too much emotionally’
baby with her then husband when she was 28.
Diagnosed with ‘unexplained’ infertility, they underwent 20 years of privatelyfunded fertility treatment, including IVF, some of it in the UK.
Despite producing ‘top quality’ embryos, each attempt to get pregnant ended in failure.
Ms Dalglish admitted: ‘Sometimes it got too much emotionally, physically and financially.
‘Sometimes we stopped for a year or two. Because they said it was unexplained, we thought, “We’ll do some yoga, meditation, alternative health, because there’s nothing stopping us. Maybe it’ll just happen if we forget about it”.’
She added: ‘Every one that fails, you’re absolutely devastated. It’s like a death.’
Ms Dalglish grew concerned because each time medics tried to transfer her embryos back into her womb, the procedure was unbearably painful, as though they were ‘hitting a wall’.
More than a decade into her IVF journey, a different consultant said her severely tilted womb was to blame. After that, Ms Dalglish became pregnant three times – but on each occasion suffered heartbreaking miscarriages.
She said: ‘What kept me going was I just kept seeing this baby.’
Eventually she decided to use donor eggs instead of her own – initially without success.
She then approached the Dunya IVF Fertility Centre in the city of Kyrenia. Now with another partner, she decided it was time to try again – but following the death of her father in Scotland, she almost did not undergo the final procedure until her mother persuaded her to keep going.
The couple were stunned to conceive on their second attempt.
Ms Dalglish recalled: ‘The two of us burst out crying and screaming. I think my dad must have had something to do with it.’
Describing her feelings after giving birth to Daisy Grace in September, she said: ‘When we came home, I burst out crying. It felt like 25 years of grief trying to escape.
‘She seems the most placid, laidback, happy baby. It’s almost like I waited so long and now I’m being spoilt.’
Ms Dalglish’s doctor Alper Eraslan said her determination would be an inspiration to others. He said: ‘Even though it can be both psychologically and financially burdensome sometimes, with our support, knowledge and experience we are aiming to help women who want to have a healthy baby.
‘We are so happy to see women like Helen finally getting the chance to have their own children, and we will continue to do our best in helping other couples achieve this dream as well.’