Hollyoaks’ soap star Adam Ricketts has spoken candidly about not being able to have children due to an autoimmune disorder
The 43-year-old appeared on ITV’s Loose Women to raise awareness and break the taboo of male infertility along with his wife, Katy Fawcett.
He revealed he suffers from Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) which is known to decrease fertility.
The pair discussed how they met when Good Morning Britain reporter Katy interviewed him.
She was given just half an hour, but five hours later they were still chatting, and Adam said it was then he knew Katy was the one.
The former Coronation Street actor, said: “It was love at first sight for me. Five and half hours after meeting I literally rang my mum and said: ‘I’m going to marry her.”
The couple married after a two-year engagement in December 2014
Adam said he was nervous to tell Katy about his condition for fear he was stopping her from having children. But he told her very early on that there could be an issue with conceiving.
He said: “When it got to the point of getting engaged, I said: ‘I’m going to get tested and see what the plan is going forward.’ The doctor told us that I would usually have a million sperm in one ejaculation, but I only had three.”
The couple decided against going down the IVF route and made the conscious decision to make use of the other things in life they could do.
Katy said: “We could have tried the IVF route and it made us sit down, we knew it would be a difficult and unlikely process because of the position we were in, so we decided to make use of the other things we could do.
Adam said: “There are parts of life we will miss out on, we are not naive. We try to experience things others couldn’t, careers, I love acting, Katy loves presenting and journalism, we have a business together, we have our dogs, so we don’t feel like we’re lacking in giving our love to something else.”
What is Ankylosing Spondylitis?
According to the NHS England website, Ankylosing Spondylitis is a condition in which the spine and other areas of the body become inflamed.
Symptoms can vary, but the most common include pain and stiffness, inflammation of the joints, extreme tiredness.
There is no known cure for AS but it can be managed with exercise, physiotherapy, and in extreme cases, medication.
Has your fertility been affected by an autoimmune disorder? We’d love to hear your story, email mystory@ivfbabble.com.
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