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No one really prepares you for what fertility issues (and potential infertility) will feel like. As a relatively young and healthy woman (just turned 36), I thought the standard husband, house and two kids were all a part of my near future – I had just been proposed to and was planning my wedding. All was good. Or so I thought… until the last couple of months sent my life into a spiral.
What I thought was a gym injury turned into an unsuspected diagnosis of deep infiltrating endometriosis, which had spread its way into my bowel, created large cysts on each ovary, and left my ovaries stuck together in what is affectionately called “kissing ovaries”. As it turned out, I needed a major surgery to fix this mess, and needed it soon – and because of the risk of ovarian damage during the procedure, I needed my eggs frozen beforehand.
I knew nothing about egg freezing before this – nothing at all. I walked into a fertility clinic on the first day for my first appointment absolutely clueless, burst dramatically into tears as soon as I sat down, and in between hiccups explained that I had never had sex before so wasn’t able to have internal scans, and also couldn’t financially afford this.
The woman sitting in front of me – who turned out to be Dr Shabana Bora – listened calmly and patiently. No rushing, no judging. She didn’t jump to take my last remaining pennies as private clinics often do – she talked me through the pros and cons of egg freezing, laid out other options for me (I ended up going with embryo freezing), discussed the financial breakdown and comparisons in detail so there were no nasty scares and additional costs.
I started the process – we didn’t have long to get everything turned around before my surgery, but she worked around the clock and out of hours to ensure every single thing I needed was put into place. She communicated with me constantly, making no question seem silly, and worked around my irrational fear of internal scans without making me feel like a liability. It felt like I gained another friend along the way – someone who was genuinely truly rooting for things to work out for me.
Trust me, I have seen numerous horror videos on TikTok of girls who end up without limbs – or any babies – after forking out tens of thousands of pounds for their egg freezing. I can honestly tell you, there was not a moment during my journey at Alma Fertility based at LIPS Healthcare in Battersea and the Lister Hospital, Chelsea where I thought I couldn’t trust the people caring for me, from the doctors to the anaesthetist to the nurses who took my bloods every 2 days. Up until the very last moment where I went for my egg retrieval, I knew every single person there would look after me. Dr Bora worked with Dr Mohamed Khalil from the Lister Fertility Clinic for my retrieval – another Godsend – and I have not even taken a single painkiller since the procedure 36 hours ago.
I wouldn’t wish fertility issues on any woman, but for those who do find themselves facing this path, I wish every single one of them would have an experience like I did at Alma Fertility. “
