Why Egg Donors Donate?

6th May 2016

At Shady Grove Fertility, we know that infertility is not convenient, it’s not easy, and that it can test your will and strength in ways that you never even imagined possible. As one former patient turned UK Patient Liaison, Sarah Esdaile, put it, “I remember being emotionally bruised from a few failed IVF cycles.”

We also know that donor egg treatment presents many unique challenges that can sometimes intensify your anxiety—all the more reason we’re here to share with you one side of the process you won’t see … and that’s the passion and dedication of your egg donor.

As a recipient you will have travelled across the Atlantic Ocean, met with your medical team, completed testing, and selected a donor, all before finally coming in for your embryo transfer. But on the other side of this process—the side our donor egg recipients don’t see—our egg donors have completed extensive medical, genetic, and psychological screenings, completed a 13-page application, taken hormone injections for weeks (while having daily doctors visits), and then finally come in for the egg retrieval, all in hopes of matching with the right family.

A unique and insightful perspective is that of our nurses, who benefit from seeing both sides of the process. During an interview with Gail Felperin, R.N., a nurse on the donor egg team, she said, “When you see they [the donor and recipient] have the same passion together, and the personalities click, I’m like ‘you guys have such a good fit and you don’t even know it.’ It’s so heartwarming for the nurses just to feel that.”

 

Egg Donor Survey: We Asked Our Donors Why They Chose to Donate

The vast majority of our donors have decided to pursue egg donation out of a deep desire to help others, and many have friends or family members who have faced infertility, so they know some of the feelings that surround this process. Here are just a few of the reasons our egg donors give back:

 

60% of Egg Donors Know Someone Who has had Infertility

  • “My mother struggled with fertility and had my wonderful brother with fertility treatments and I would love to give another family the chance to either start a family or expand their current family.”
  • “My best friend found out she is infertile and has wanted to have children since we were kids. It breaks my heart that there are so many women who want children and are unable to do so. It would be so rewarding to give the gift of life.”
  • “Growing up I had a very close friend who was diagnosed as premenopausal at a very early age. This friend is now only 22 years old. Knowing she wants so badly to be a mother but can’t, I would like to donate my eggs to another woman in her honor.”

 

40% of Egg Donors are Mothers Themselves

  • “As a woman, I feel like bringing a child into this world is one of the most powerful things we possess. If that possibility was taken away from me and if I needed an egg donor myself, I would hope that someone else would do that for me.”
  • “When I look into my child’s eyes and hear his giggle, I can’t imagine the pain that must come with struggling to conceive. For me, donating my eggs as a mother myself was my way of ‘paying it forward.’”

 

75% of Egg Donors Want to Help Others

 

  • “For me, egg donation is a privilege and I consider myself lucky to be able to give in such a profound way. The first time I donated, I remember vividly how emotionally good I felt. Pure, simple goodness in the knowledge that I created hope where previously there had been none.”
  • “For me, it’s doing the little things for others that occupies the biggest part of my heart. And since donating my eggs was a BIG thing that I could do for someone else, my heart is that much fuller.”

 

At Shady Grove Fertility, we work together with our donors and recipients to help create families, making sure they are well informed and have all the support they need. To learn more about the Shady Grove Fertility’s Donor Egg Programme, please reach us by phone at 0208 003 0827 or email Amanda Segal, International Patient Liaison, at [email protected].

 

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