Persuading the PCT to freeze my eggs - any help

[heatherec]

Hi everyone,

I don't know if any of you can help with this one. I am looking to write to my local PCT to persuade them to freeze my eggs. I am current under the care of Professor Hanson who has been a leading phyiscian for endometriosis and has stated that I have some of the worst endometriosis he has ever seen.

Me and my partner have been saving for a house for years and are in no way near financially ready to be able to have children but we both would really like a family. I am starting the process of contacting my local PCT to try and persuade them that I deserve to have some of my eggs frozen on the NHS.

Has anyone done this before? Has anyone got any advice? Anything would be brilliant.

Hope you can help ladies.

Thanks,

Heather x

[Nykeez]

Hi Heather

I have been trying to get help with this myself. I was told last week (and have been told before) that the only way the NHS will take responsibility for freezing someone's eggs is if they are undergoing treatment for cancer. I was advised that the only way to do it was to pay privately.

It's quite upsetting as I have a lot of fertility issues and I feel that there is very little help for me unless i fit into very specific categories. I did have cancer, but I had surgery to control it so was still not eligible for the freezing of my eggs.

I would love to know if you have better success.

Good luck with everything. Hope it works out.

[Noper]

I'm no expert in this, and this may not be what you want to do at all, but i had one thought :

some private IVF clinics offer an egg sharing systems, where you get free IVF in return for donating some of your eggs to others trying to conceive. I know that for some people the thought of donating some of your own eggs is too difficult. However, it might be worth contemplating, and worth checking out whether a private clinic would be willing to freeze some of your eggs for free, in return for you donating some to others.

As with any egg freezing process, I think you would still need to go through the process of having your ovaries stimulated by hormones, so that they could harvest as many eggs as possible.

In terms of the donor thing, it's not for everyone of course, and might not be what you choose to do. But as far as i know, private IVF clinics are often keen to find young women (under the age of 35) to donate some of their eggs.

Hope this is helpful. Of course it might not be the right thing for you - but maybe worth considering.