Bradford couple are looking for an Asian egg donor

IN VITRO FERTILISATION: During IVF, an egg is removed from the woman's ovaries and fertilised with sperm in a laboratory

Infertility - it’s the word that nobody wants to hear when they’re trying to start a family.

A young Bradford couple are desperately seeking an Asian ethnicity egg donor after facing the cold hard fact that there is a shortage of egg donors from Pakistani and Indian communities in the UK.

Due to the wife’s medical condition, which is called Premature Ovarian Failure, also referred to as premature menopause, the couple cannot conceive naturally.

The wife, who wishes to remain anonymous, said that her ovaries no longer produce any eggs and the only hope of becoming parents is through an egg donation. 

Most women are born with a limited supply of around two million eggs, but this number decreases with age.

However, some women experience infertility issues at a younger age.  

The woman who is looking for a donor said: “For all these women, it’s a devastating moment when you are told that you can’t have a child.  

“The second blow comes when, after months and years of trying and riding an emotional roller coaster, you realise that you need to make a choice.”

Thanks to medical advances and fantastic IVF techniques, it is now possible for a woman to donate eggs to another woman.

Lynnsey McHugh, a director of a fertility clinic in Manchester said: “We are one of the few infertility clinics in the UK which doesn’t have a waiting list for treatment using either donor eggs or donor sperm, thanks to our strong donor recruitment programme and reputation for excellent donor care.

“But it seems that awareness of egg donation is low amongst the established Asian communities in our region.

“We’re sure that if more women realised that there is a shortage, we would see more coming forward to donate eggs.

“We have a strong number of Asian sperm donors, but sadly not Asian egg donors. The only choice these women face now is to wait for the right donor, or to travel abroad for treatment, which carries risks as foreign clinics and egg donation screening may not be as strictly regulated as in the UK.”

Only clinics that have been inspected and are licensed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) can set up an egg donation programme.  Such a programme has existed in Leeds since 1993.

The couple said: “We cannot explain what it would mean to us to have a child. It would mean everything, it would be a dream come true.

“We would like to plea for the gift of an egg, so that we can have a baby and fulfil our dream of having a family.

“In the Asian community, we just don’t talk about things like this. No one wants other people to know their private business, so we totally understand. But women can come forward and remain completely anonymous.

“If someone out there is reading this story and understands what having a child means and feels they can help us, please, please call the NHS number below, and become our egg donor angel.”

If you would like to help the couple...

• An Asian ethnicity donor is needed under the age of 35
• All travel expenses will be compensated by the NHS

Please contact Nicky Cohan or Georgina Sheldon and quote the password: AED 

Tel: 0113 206 3106 / 0113 206 3102

If there is no answer please leave a message with contact details or email:  eggdonors@leedsth.nhs.uk or georginasheldon@nhs.net