Hello-

I am new here! I read about this forum on Fertility Friends in the UK.

I live in the UK outside of London and need to use an Egg Donor...all the clinics I have contacted have long waiting lists and I am not happy with their donor selection.

I am considering traveling to the US. I am concerned about the cycle coordination from abroad and limiting my time traveling. Does anyone know of a clinic in the UK who has a relationship with a clinic in the US for Donor Egg treatment? Or a clinic that imports frozen donor eggs from the US- is this allowed?

Thanks so much!

Ann

Have you considered going to the Czech Republic (Zlin, for example) or to the Ukraine? It would be MUCH less expensive for you. I'm in Germany and cycled in Zlin.

There's a forum for it on fertilityfriends, I'm pretty sure. British women usually prefer CRM's sister clinic, Reprofit, in Brno, because there are direct flights from one of the London area airports to Brno. But you could fly into Brno, and it's about a ninety minute drive, I think, to Zlin. I made a friend from Wales there when I cycled; she didn't want the long wait for Reprofit and came to Zlin instead (I have twin boys from that cycle; she has twin boys from a later cycle). Now, the donor coordinators select your donors in the Czech Republic, and it sounds as though donor selection is important to you, so you may have already written off Czech clinics. But if cost is important, Zlin is also a very affordable choice.

If cost is less of a consideration, I know that GIVF in the Washington, DC, area markets heavily in England.http://www.givf.com/specialfeatures/outoftownpatients.shtml They actually got negative publicity when they held one of the usual donor egg cycle raffles that they use in the U.S. as a marketing tool, and that got translated in the U.K. press as they were raffling off an oocyte. Anyway, I don't know whether they are actually affiliated with a clinic, but they very likely are, because I'm pretty sure they are either affiliated or actually own a clinic in China. But they're pretty expensive; I started there, but ended up in the Czech Republic when the bottom fell out of the stock market a few years ago.

Also, I think Shady Grove, also in the DC metro area, has started marketing itself internationally.http://www.shadygrovefertility.com/out_of_area Shady Grove would be a more affordable option, at least if you do a split cycle.

GIVF had a very nice donor pool when I was a patient a few years ago. I've heard less attractive things about SG's pool, but an acquaintance has two beautiful DE children from that clinic. The nice thing about the DC area clinics is that if you haven't been to Washington before, you could do some sight-seeing and enjoy the trip, too.

I don't know whether importation of donor eggs from the U.S. is legal, although I've wondered about the legality of international oocyte shipments before. One issue would be whether the British clinic would have adequate facilities and training to thaw and fertilize vitrified eggs. Egg vitrification is still technically an experimental therapy in the U.S., and that might have some bearing on the legal issues, too.

Good luck!

Maggie (in VA)

Welcome!

I think you may consider reversing the order -- look into US clinics and use a US donor. Many many many US clinics work with international clients, but I imagine finding a donor willing to go abroad for donation might be challenging.

You could work exclusively with US clinics using in house donors, and that would save trouble and money -- there are several folks on this board who can share information and their experiences with.

The laws in Ca, particularly, are very clear and protective of Intended parents, so that would be my first choice, but I am sure you can find good legal protection and clinics on the east coast as well.

Wishing you luck!

Well, my understanding is that they're raising the level of stipend that can be paid, but I doubt that it would be anything like what a U.S. donor would expect. So sending a compensated U.S. donor to England wouldn't work anyway. Maggie (in VA)

but did not really absorb it -- so even if a donor comes from another country, the law would apply...

There are plenty of options closer to home than the US, they are also far more affordable. I went to the Cape Fertility Clinic in South Africa and recommend that highly. From choosing our donor it took less than two months to complete the cycle. Although the donors are anonymous you can pick your own donor and you get a lot of information on them. A lot of people have also had success at Zlin in the Czech Republic. Donors there are also anonymous and you get only very basic info, also the clinic makes the match.

I also looked into going to the US but it was very difficult to find a good match, the cost was astronomical and the legal issues are also more problematic as it is not regulated by law in the same way that it is in SA or the Czech Republic. You don't need to do it through your UK clinic, these clinics deal with a lot of foreign patients and have very well designed programs for them. That's another reason I didn't go to the US, as their programs were very US focused, they couldn't prescribe you meds etc.

Good luck! My little miracle turns one on Thursday

I went to South Africa. USA far too expensive - ridiculously so. Very few clinics are happy to transport embryos between countries as things can so easily go wrong.

South Africa is cheap, you can choose a donor as the system is not anonymous as in most European countries, and the service is incredibly supportive and professional.

Try out these links:

http://www.nurture.co.za/

http://www.capefertilityclinic.co.za/index.asp?

If you want to email me directly about flights etc, length of stay and anything else:

mandy dot parry at blueyonder dot co do uk

Good luck!

Hi, you may want to consider using frozen eggs which may be slightly less effective, but cheaper and you don't have to coordinate your cycle with donor so your travel from UK to USA would be easier logistically.

Here are links to two clinics in the East Coast that have these programs.

http://www.fairfaxeggbank.com/frozen-donor-eggs-financial-information/

http://www.myeggbank.com/donor-eggs/index.php?Fees-4

Good luck

Yeah, frozen eggs are definitely an attractive option for an overseas cycler. Be aware that Fairfax Egg Bank is GIVF. I'm not familiar with myeggbank. They're in Atlanta, but they don't look affiliated with RBA (?). This is just me, but at this point in the technology, I'd be reluctant to do a frozen egg cycle except at RBA, which pioneered it. On the other hand, as I said in my previous message, RBA's frozen cycles are a comparatively affordable choice. Maggie (in VA)

Myeggbank is RBA

Was that its site mentioned treating women over 50, and a board bud who's a patient there told me 50 was their cutoff, but I admit it was 50-inclusive (i.e. 50 year and 364 days), so I may have assumed too much. Thanks for the clarification. Maggie (in VA)

Hi Ann,

I live in SW London and have had DE IVF in the US and am now doing it again in the UK. My experience in the US was not a good one (no success) but I acknowledge that this will not be the case for everyone going there for treatment. I found choosing a US donor to be very difficult emotionally, especially when faced with their photos.

When the treatment in the US didn't work, we decided to try again here in the UK, at Guy's Hospital. We discovered a new organisation called Altrui that helps you find a donor. It is much quicker than the usual hospital waiting list times. Within 3-4 months they found us a donor. I chose not to use that donor but they found another one about 5 months after that and we are now in the final days leading up to egg retrieval. I must say that it has been a comfort to be home whilst going through this.

There is a fee but it's much less than you pay a donor in the US. Here is the website:

altrui.co.uk

Good Luck!

Hi and welcome to the yellow board.
Its a great place here and you can get answers to almost any question you can think of.
I am in Australia and after many local DEIVF failures ended up in Kuala Lumpur for an Egg donation cycle. It is very hard to get donors here, hard to organise them (red tape OMG) and even if you do get someone they could be subfertile and not respond to stims.

You can go overseas to do donor egg - it is much easier. For example I know there are egg donation clinics in Greece and also Zlin (many ladies here have gone to Zlin from the U.S.).

It will be cheaper for you to go abroard to do DEIVF plus you will not have any waiting lists and will have many donors to choose from. My KL cycle was very quick indeed. I went up there to check it out in early March (2010) and had a transfer in mid April (2010). Its only a six hour flight from here so literally just up the road. This was cycle #8 for me and I got pg.

With DEIVf always keep your options open. If you have to travel to save money and get quick access to a donor then do it. My sister once told me 'oh you want ... well you are cutting your options off'. She was totally right.
Be flexible on every level and go for it
best, THK