For Lisa, the decision to become an anonymous egg donor is something she would definitely recommend to other women, but says it is important to take things at your own pace
The chance viewing of a TV documentary about child surrogacy planted a thought in the mind of mother-of-three Lisa* that would just not go away.
For the 27-year-old, the BBC Surrogacy series reminded her of being 18 and fearing she would never be able to have a family of her own due to a possible health condition
“They thought I might have polycystic ovaries and in my head I catastrophised this to mean I might never be able to have children.
“Happily, I was able to conceive later on and thankfully there were no complications, but watching the programme did make me wonder if I could help someone else less fortunate.
“I didn’t want to be a surrogate but learning more about anonymous egg donation made me think it was something I would definitely like to investigate.”
After spotting a Facebook ad for the Bristol Centre for Reproductive Medicine (BCRM) for egg donors, Lisa took the leap and filled in the application form
“I decided not to follow it up for about six months, because I wanted to think about it a bit more and then contacted them again to say I was interested in going forward.
“There were forms to fill in, and as we were in lockdownmost of my contact with the clinic was via Zoom which worked very well and everyone was really kind and friendly.”
Lisa underwent compulsory counselling where it was explained she would not know the person who she was matched with and that they will not know her
“What I didn’t know though, was that any child conceived through my eggs could apply to know who I was when they got to 18. That was a bit of a shock. The potential of a child coming to find me wasn’t something I’d thought through.
“But later giving it some serious thought, I decided to go ahead.
“Initially it was all really quick. The longest part is getting matched with a recipient. Being picked was a really nice feeling. Our menstrual cycles then had to be synched ahead of the egg transfer.
“There were six weeks of medication. I did the injections myself at home. I didn’t think I could do it and it felt weird at first, but I just got on with it.
“I was a bit bloated towards the end, but apart from that there were no problems.
“After the procedure I was fine. I had to stay put for a couple of hours and was then able to go home. I was pretty much back to normal the next day.”
Lisa says she would encourage other women to donate their eggs
“I would definitely recommend it, but I would say you really need to make sure that you are emotionally ready for it because is a big decision, but for me I’m really happy I did it.
“I’m even thinking about maybe doing it again one day.”
*Lisa is an assumed name, to protect the donor’s identity
For many women being offered donated eggs may be their only hope of having a baby
BCRM’s dedicated Egg Donation Team can provide all the information a potential donor might need to help decide if she wishes to donate some of her eggs. We are also there to support our donors every step of the way. To find out more visit here, email for more information: BCRMDonors@fertilitybristol.com or click here to apply Egg Donor Application Form | Bristol Centre for Reproductive Medicine – BCRM (fertilitybristol.com).
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