Many people can empathise with the pain of discovering you cannot have children, and some are so touched they are compelled to action. Luckily modern scientific techniques have for several years allowed people to help infertile couples through sperm and egg donation.
However, donating eggs differs from donating sperm in the amount of preparation it requires, and the invasivness of the operation to remove the eggs.
This is why in addition to a medical check up, family history review and scan of your ovaries, you might be expected to attend a counselling session when you apply to become a donar. This should help you assess your reasons for wanting to donate, and prepare you for the procedure.
To qualify as a donar you need to be between the ages of 18 and 35. Often clinics also prefer donors who have children of their own, for various reasons such as the small risk to your future fertility, and your capacity to comprehend what you are giving to another person.
Before you begin treatment, you will need to stop taking the pill or any other hormonal contraception, so that you have a natural menstrual cycle.
Following your first natural” period, you will begin taking daily injections to stimulate the ovaries. You can have these injections at the donation clinic, at your local surgery or you may wish to inject yourself at home. Small needles are used, and administered into the fatty tissue in your abdomen.
You will be required to make two to three visits to the clinic during this preperation for vaginal ultrasound scans to moniter the progress of the stimulated follicles in your ovaries.
Once the clinic finds your ovarian response is peaking, you will be asked to take a late night injection of HGC to ripen the eggs. The egg collection will take place in the clinic or hospital the next morning.
The procedure is carried out under intraveneous heavy sedation. This means that while you will not be fully unconcious whilst your eggs are taken, you will be unaware of what is going on, and should not experience any pain or discomfort.
In ordinary circumstances, you will be able to return home the same day. You must have somebody to accompany you though, as the sedation takes a little while to wear off. You will be given a course of antibiotics to reduce the possibility of infection.
The clinic should inform you of possible risks such as Hyperstimulation syndrome, bleeding or infection. Hyperstimulation syndrome effects about 1 in 20 donaters, and happens when fertility drugs create too many eggs in the ovaries. If you experience abdominal pain or swelling you should return to the clinic for a check up.
They should be able to diagnose the condition, and give you dietary suggestions and other precutions to take to avoid complications arising. In general, the condition is temporary and treated by rest and hydration.
Other things to consider include that fact they your egg donation will not necessarily result in a child. Although you are not generally permitted to meet the intended parents, some clinics allow you to know whether the result of their fertility treatment was a success. You need to think about how you would feel if your donation did not have the hoped for result.
In some countries, such as the UK and Ireland, a child concieved through donated sperm or egg cells can find out contact details of the donor once they reach eighteen. For some people this is a very positive thing, but for others it might not be. You would have no legal obligation or rights to a child born, even though they are genetically related to you.
Becoming an egg donar requires huge levels of commitment and tenacity but can also have an amazing effect on so many lives, not least your own.
Find out more by visiting http://www.egg-donors.info