I received this today. I think a few people here from Australia used this agency and went to India to do surrogacy.

To the Clinic Director



We are writing to you on behalf of a group of concerned parties to warn you about an unethical and unscrupulous so called business owner who is trying to recruit young South African women for donation abroad. Your clinic has been identified as one of the clinics who might be a target for this organization.



While egg donation is legal in South Africa, it is against the regulations for any egg donor agency to recruit South African women for donation abroad. It has been brought to our attention that a company known as Traveling Donors (run by an inexperienced young woman called Genevieve Uys) has recruited donors for donation's abroad. At best these potential egg donors are ill-informed about the risks they face in donating their eggs thereby unknowingly putting their health at risk, and at worse they are unscreened and ineligible to donate. (One such woman has a known history of epilepsy, which the agency has failed to disclose thereby putting the donor at risk as well as the future child. The donors parents are taking legal action against the egg donor agency) In addition - she has no formal training or financial backing should a situaion arise where a donor requires assistance.



We understand that there are many parents whose only hope of conceiving is through egg donation. We also understand that there are young women who are keen to help wherever they can. However, there is no place for unethical, immoral business practise which puts the lives of young women at risk & takes advantage of intended parents vulnerability.



We urge you to proceed with caution.

That the usage and punctuation errors in the letter above come from a hasty transcription of a hard copy letter, because I don't believe any communication came from a legitimate government office in that state. Maggie (in VA)

ETA: OK, I just re-read and see that it doesn't purport to come from a government bureau, but from a group of "concerned parties." Hmmmmm.

But is the letter writer saying this agency was so lax it accidentally allowed a minor to donate (or apply to become a donor, at least)? Or did the writer mean the donor egg *recipient*, i.e., the parents of a child born from that donor's eggs? This information may be legitimate and well meant, but as presented, especially anonymously, it's not very confidence-inspiring. Maggie (in VA)

The procedure an egg donor goes through is the exact same one that any woman would undergo if she did IVF with her own eggs. They take injectible drugs, and then go undergo an egg retrieval procedure.

IVF is not that risky of a procedure. It is not generally considered "life threatening".

Most of the general public still seems to believe that the egg donation procedure is somehow different from regular IVF. Its not.

By failing to note that when they discuss the egg donation process, and they often emphasize it as a painful process. How many women would undergo cycle after cycle of OE IVF if it were really that painful? Maggie (in VA)

one was from UK and one was from Australia. I know the UK ones husband travelled to India and the SA egg donor was supposed to be there for egg collection and she was given to someone else at the last minute and the UK lady was told that she got no eggs. The lady still frequents the boards and so does the Aussie lady. I am pretty sure it was not this same agency though.

that sounds scary....did the woman still have to pay, even though they did not transfer any embryos for her ?


I am going through a clinic overseas that uses only anonymous donors, and I often wonder if I am being told the entire truth about things.

That was me and my husband E&H is talking about. We had paid for the recruitment and preparation of a surrogate from India and the entire cost of an egg donor from SA to stim and travel to donate in India. We were told at the eleventh hour that the SA donor had no eggs and that there was no point in my DH travelling to Delhi to donate his sperm (and no point in her travelling to India). So fortunately he didn't waste his time and money travelling to India and we got refunds for his ticket.

The clinic who recruited the surrogate also agreed to refund the costs of the surro saying that she would now work for another couple. The egg donor agency agreed to refund us about 80% of our money (our cost minus a deposit) - but given the high costs of this stellar proven donor, this was still quite a loss.

The clinic later changed their mind and said that they would not refund any money to us and said that they had never agreed to such a thing in the first place - very annoying and unprofessional!

The egg donor agency later informed us that the donor did indeed have eggs later on that cycle but they decided to donate them to another couple. The couple had got pregnant but miscarried. They told us that they didn't tell us this because they didn't want to upset us! Very unprofessional also.

The egg donor agency were Global Egg Donors (formally Renew) and the clinic in India was called Phoenix Clinic, run by Dr Shivani. The lesson = don't go to India for surrogacy.

The good part of this story was that during all the time I was pregnant and eventually had my own ED DD - but it was a pretty horrible experience.

I consulted with her, too. I recall a few weeks ago you said that during your consult, she said some eerily prescient things to you--do you feel comfortable sharing what they were? Sounds like you had quite a journey to motherhood--good on you for being so strong through it all.

No problem if you don't want to share!

I come here to share! I felt so isolated before I found these boards and I learned an enormous amount over the years during my struggles.

Yes, fertility astrology - it blew my mind! Not for a second did I think there was anything in it - I was just going threw the motions, saying I had tried everything and nothing worked - I was very, very low at the time having already done 4 failed DE cycles overseas (South Africa) with nothing to show for it.

She told me:

1. That mine was not a hopeless case - my chart wasn't that bad at all (I thought she would say I was the worst she had seen!)

2. That I should cycle in August 2009 and that was my once in a lifetime opportunity to have a baby. She told me this in mid-June 2009 which was unrealistic in terms of actually preparing for a DE cycle - I had needed at least 3 months on previous occasions to choose and test a donor overseas etc etc. I contacted the DE agency in SA who knew the astrologer and respected her and they moved heaven and earth to sort it out so we managed to do it in August after all.

3. That I should leave on the Monday after the Saturday transfer - something which we didn't do as we were keen to leave. We missed our Sunday flight be accident however, so were forced to leave on the Monday as she suggested. It felt a bit spooky at this point, but I was absolutely sure that it hadn't worked.

4. She told me that if I did that, I would give birth in May 2010 after a fairly easy pregnancy. She was right and I had my DD on 1/5/10.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1348783/Astro-fertility-helped-couple-conceive-baby-years-failed-IVF.html

So interesting--like you, I called her in the spirit of "What the h*ll, right?" She gave me a bunch of good windows in which to try DE in the next couple years, but I thought I'd try to see what you thought of her before lending any credence to them.

The first window starts in November and ends in January--I may go for that one (I'm going to be using RBA/frozen eggs, so I don't have to plan all that far ahead). She also said I had a couple 'miracle' windows: One last month (that didn't end up working out for TTC naturally, alas) and one this weekend, when I just happen to be ovulating again. So I'll give it one last heave-ho TTC with my own (hilariously aged 44 year old) eggs, then I'm off to the races with DE.

Perhaps not surprisingly, she didn't see me having particularly great odds with OE given my age, but she said to go for it during the miracle phase. But in my mind, I'm already on to the next phase, DE, come what may.

So glad it worked out for you in the end!

I am hoping so hard for you. Will keep an eye out for when you start your cycle. xxx

This whole process gets much easier as I let go of the OE miracle fantasy. I appreciate the well-wishes and the vote of confidence in Nicola's skills. If I can get it to work out, I think I will schedule my cycle(s) in one of her suggested time frames.

I still get white hot thinking about it.
Be warned and stay way clear of these clinics. We too got pg at another clinic and thank god too. Our little boy is the light of our lives. Grrrrrrrr!

It is true that it is illegal for south african donors to travel to other countries to donate.
I was stung by a sa donor agency and their linked Indian surrogacy program. It was the worst nightmare of my life.
Be very careful who you deal with there. Thk