Fertility Road Issue 44 May/June 2018

FERTILITY JOURNEYS 2018
FERTILITY JOURNEYS:
EGG DONATION WITH IVF SPAIN
Exclusive
Spanish
Partner
At IVF Spain we take great pride in participating
in this year’s Fertility Journey organised by
Fertility Road Magazine. Each year this wonderful
initiative gives us the opportunity to help
two couples that need fertility treatment with
donated eggs to fulfil their long lasting dream
of becoming parents. Thanks to our patients,
who chose to share their journey, we can help
normalise and raise awareness about a problem
that affects many people and which receives very
little attention On this occasion, IVF Spain’s
medical team - led by gynecologist and fertility
specialist Dr. Natalia Szlarb - had a particularly
difficult time in choosing a couple, as more than
130 participants applied for this year’s Fertility
Journey. After reviewing applicants medical
records with Skype call interviews, Claire (42)
and Dave (35) were chosen as lucky recipients of
the Fertility Journey 2018. An adorable couple
we had the pleasure to interview beforehand to
learn more about how their difficult journey to
parenthood is going so far:
Claire and Dave
We would like to know a bit more about you
Claire: We have been married since 2010 and live in
Bristol, England. We are a healthy and happy couple
interested in sports, health and fitness. I (Claire) am
42 and I am a legal secretary for a law firm, and Dave
is a Business Development Director at a University
College in the South West of England.
Claire and Dave
Why are you struggling to conceive a baby and
how long have you been trying?
Dave: For the past 7 years, we’ve been trying to
conceive a child and start a family, but apparently
there were various issues to overcome that we didn’t
know about at first, like sperm morphology and
motility defects, and a family genetic condition
that increases the rate of failed implantation and
miscarriage. Despite this situation being extremely
challenging for us, we are totally committed to
creating a healthy and happy family together.
How has your fertility journey been so far?
Claire: I underwent my first IVF cycle in Bristol
back in 2011. It was an ICSI plus metformin cycle,
but unfortunately, I was overstimulated and had
to coast for a week. Most of the eggs developed
too much for fertilisation. In the end, 2 eggs were
successfully fertilised and transferred on day 3,
but none of them implanted.
I had a second cycle at Bristol Southmead
Hospital. This time the IVF drug dosage was
lowered to avoid overstimulation. 17 eggs were
retrieved during egg collection, and 2 eggs put
back in at blastocyst stage, but again failed to
implant. Later on 2 frozen fertilised eggs from
this last cycle were put back in but they also did
not implant.
Due to having a chromosome translocation (12 and
14) in my family history and being a balanced carrier,
I was advised to proceed with the PGD route.
So I had a third ICSI attempt with PGD back
in 2014. 7 eggs were retrieved and fertilised
on low dosage of drugs, again to avoid over
stimulation. PGD showed that all of the eggs
carried unbalanced chromosome translocations,
meaning none could be put back in. After this,
we were deeply disappointed and started seeking
to proceed with egg donation to avoid any other
painful unsuccessful ISCI experience due to the
translocation in the embryos. When we reached
this point, we had no frozen embryos from
previous cycles.
How did you find out about the Fertility Road
Magazine Fertility Journey?
Dave: In simple terms, Facebook. One evening,
Claire noticed an opportunity through the Fertility
Road Magazine Facebook page and we decided
to apply. We had an informative Skype call and
well, we are very happy to have been selected for
the treatment and have this opportunity with
Fertility Road.
Were you already considering going abroad for
your next fertility treatment? What are you
looking for in a clinic? And how do you feel
about IVF Spain so far?
Claire: We were considering an egg donation
treatment to increase the chances of success, and
at first, we thought of having it in a UK clinic,
closer to home. It is important to us that a clinic
is open, transparent and patient centred because
this can be an incredibly stressful experience. In
short, we wanted a clinic that ‘looks after’ their
patients and makes the experience as exciting and
positive as possible. Although we are yet to travel
to Spain to meet the IVF Spain team in person, all
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