Medowie Mum, Stevie Wilkinson, turn to Egg Donor FEATURED Medowie, Ferodale, Campvale by News Of The Area - Modern Media - August 9, 2016August 9, 2016 Stevie Newey and her son George. Photo by Rachael Vaughan WHEN Medowie woman Stevie Wilkinson became a mother for the first time in December 2015, she found the incredible, life-altering love she felt for the tiny little person really overwhelming. Stevie began to feel a sort of grief for women who, for whatever reason, could not have children of their own. In April of this year, she came across an advertisement, asking for women who might be prepared to gift their eggs to another woman unable to produce their own to carry a child. After discussing her thoughts and feelings with her husband, Stevie began making enquiries about donating her eggs. She also joined two social groups, Egg Donation Australia and Egg Donor Angels. Want your business advertised online with the News Of The Area? With 11,383 page-views over the last one month, you’ll reach your online audience & customers. Email us today for a quote: ads@mcnota.com.au Stevie spoke to a lot of like-minded women, donors and recipients, and then eventually met her recipient to-be. Stevie’s recipient had gone through years of infertility and two failed IVF cycles before learning that at just 36 years old, she was premenopausal with a low ovarian reserve and poor egg quality. Her only option if she wanted to carry her own baby, was that of an egg donation. Stevie told News Of The Area when she and her recipient met, “We got chatting and met for coffee several times before we both decided we wanted to proceed with each other.” “We had counselling both individually with our respective husbands and all four of us together, blood tests and genetic screening to ensure I wasn’t a carrier for any genetic conditions before I could begin cycling, she said. “Now after almost 5 months my recipient has two perfect blastocysts on ice ready to be transferred and we have become amazing, life-long friends,” Ms Wilkinson said. Stevie’s recipient will begin IVF next month to receive the fertilised egg, and hopefully progress with a healthy pregnancy. Stevie said, “My decision to become an egg donor has been one of the greatest experiences of my life and I encourage any woman who thinks they could give someone in desperate need, the gift of their eggs to please consider doing so.” There is a critical shortage of donor gametes with waiting lists in Australia up to five years long. In Australia, it is illegal to buy or sell any human tissue, including sperm, eggs and embryos, therefore egg donation is purely altruistic. However, legislation permits reimbursement of reasonable expenses involved, such as travel costs, accommodation, pain relief and time off work to be covered. Under current NSW law, a child born from a donated egg, sperm or embryo is deemed to be the child of the birth mother. Donors are under no legal or financial obligation to the child. In 2010 the NSW Health Department established a Central Register for donors and donor-conceived offspring. Once a child conceived using donated gametes turns 18, they will be able to access certain information on the Register if they wish. For more information, please visit – http://newcastleeggdonors.com.au/ By Rachael VAUGHAN
Stevie is truly a beautiful soul. I hope the couple who receive this gift experience a medically boring and peaceful pregnancy ending with a healthy baby xx Reply
I think it`s ridiculous that children can find their donors. That people just gave them a small part of themselves many years ago. Donors have their own families and children. They are not interested in other children which may be related to them in such a way. To my mind it`s the right thing, that in many countries the donorship is anonymous. Those children have their families who love them. They shouldn’t interfere in their life. Undoubtedly privacy is the main thing, when it`s about IVF. Such openness may scare of many people who want to take an advantage of this service. Reply
I`m a native of Australia. And many years ago, when I was 21 I was diagnosed infertility. I dreamt of a good figure, so I always was on different diets. As a result I faced anorexia. It triggered serious changes in my organism. Hormone imbalances resulted in the absence of menstruation and therefore in infertility. I tried to treat it, but senselessly. Doctor said that the only way for me to become a mother is in vitro fertilization. Then when it`s came to the selection of clinic, I decided to go abroad. You see, according to the law, in future my child will get the opportunity to find the donor of eggs. I didn`t want it. So after the long research, I decided on Ukraine. What I liked the most, everything is private there. Also there were no such queues as in Australia. Moreover, there was such a proposition in one of the clinics (Biotexcom) to pay 10 000 euros for 5 attempts. And if they would be unsuccessful, they`ll give back all the money. In short, the second attempt was lucky. My son is 3 years old now and I`m very happy. I want to advice our government to make some changes in the law. So that Australians will not go for such operations abroad. Reply
I understand you very good, Mariss. I am also was diagnosed infertility, but at 30. My problem was drug consuming when I was 24. I have never thought that several months of consuming drugs can cause it. I had treatment in a hospital and then didn’t consume drugs for 6 years. I have healthy lifestyle after that but cant have baby. I am so sad. I was on consultation concerning the opportunity of IFV. I cant say that really believe that it will help me. Some women said that they tried 5-6 times before becoming pregnant. Moreover it is quite difficult and expensive procedure. I am not sure that I am ready to pay such amount of money. Maybe we should really check this clinic in Kiev. If you say that they have such good suggestion, I think we will try. Reply
This story for me is like a good example how women can help each other. Infertility Is a great problem in our time. So we should cooperate. The topic of egg donation first came up about two years ago during a weekend trip with my husband and two of our friends. We were at dinner before a concert when, somehow, the talk turned to sperm banks and then egg donation. We all knew how sperm banks worked, but none of us knew anything about egg donation, so I ended up Googling the procedure and reading bits of information to the rest of the table. After that, I couldn’t stop thinking about what I’d read. Most websites said the entire process took about a month, and could earn you anywhere from $4,500 to $6,000. My husband and I had been discussing starting a family ourselves, but were in no position financially to do that immediately. I thought that donating eggs would be an easy way to pay off some debt and help another couple at the same time. If I wasn’t using my eggs, why not let someone else use them? Money aside, knowing that I was able to help a couple who desperately wanted a baby was incredibly gratifying. I’ll never know if any of my eggs created a child or not but if it worked on the first try, the baby would be a couple of months old now. Sometimes I think about running into “my” baby and I wonder if I would recognize him or her. I don’t think I would. Reply
We were in Kiev, Ukraine in a company biotexcom. Frankly speaking we were very surprised by the quality of service they provided for us. First, we went just for consultation and then came back again to Ukraine to sign documents etc. I couldn’t conceive for a long time. I had problems with ovulation and my eggs. So we decided to do surrogacy. That’s very good, that in Ukraine everything is anonymously. I feel about that more confident. I am sure that like in 10 years surrogate mother will not start looking for my child or something like that. Everything passed successfully, thank God and our child was born strong and healthy. It is necessary to say that it is legal in Ukraine to use surrogate mother service, so we had no problems with official documents. I am sure they will help you as well. If you need more information feel free to ask me. Reply
We were with my husband in that clinic 3 month ago. We liked everything there. People are really great in Ukraine. They told us everything about the surrogacy in this clinic. They even met us at the airport and helped to find a hotel. Now we came to our country for a work. But we plan to come back in 2 weeks for making surrogacy there. Frankly speaking, first I was against going to Ukraine, but then my mother persuade me to go there and I don’t regret about that. I am sure everything will be fine. It seems to me that I have read all information about BioTexCom in the Internet. After that, I can say for sure, that they have very good references from the clients and I am not afraid to do surrogacy there. I think you should contact that clinic and get to know more about them. Anyway, you can try. Maybe they will really help you with it. Reply
