IVF - The cost of it all.

[Louiseporter]

Hello,

I have never posted on a forum before so please bear with me!

Me and my husband have been ttc for 4 years. After we were married last August we decided to have some tests done to see if there was any underlying problems. After a year of a lot of waiting and numerous tests through the NHS and a private consultation at a fertility clinic my husband has been diagnosed as having a zero sperm count.

He will not be able to father his own children biologically and so we will never become pregnant naturally. We are both finding this diagnosis hard to take but my husband is riddled with guilt as he feels responsible for us not being able to conceive.

All of my tests have been very positive - my AMH level is good - I think it was 36 and I am 28 years old. I have also been hitting the gym and have just managed to get my BMI down to 29 while still trying to loose more over the next couple of months.

We have been advised to have IVF with donor sperm. The problem with this is we live in Essex and there is no funding at all for fertility treatment.

We have looked into egg donation but with the donor sperm, medication, time lapse monitoring, freezing and scratch - all recommended treatments by the clinic - we would still be looking at £3,500.00. This is only for one time.

We have also looked into access fertility where by we could get 3 rounds of treatment for £9500.00 plus medication and donor sperm - we would be looking at around £15,000.00 including the donor sperm and meds - if we don't get a baby then they will give us 50% of the money back.

We do not have savings, we are both on lower average salaries. We are now facing the prospect of putting ourselves in serious amounts of debt - that would be practically impossible to pay back if we did get pregnant as I would be on statutory maternity leave and my wage cut in half!

It is worth noting that my husband is 40 and so we want to have a baby soon.

So the crux of it all is that we are now facing the option of remaining childless because we cannot afford the treatment. It all feels so unfair. I just wondered if anyone had any other options for us to explore?

Thanks in advance.