If you are considering freezing your eggs and would like to help other women on their fertility journey, this package may be perfect for you. Not only will you be supporting other women going through treatment, but you will be able to preserve your own fertility at a more affordable price.
What is Freeze and Share?
When you opt to Freeze and Share, half of the eggs collected from your ovaries are kept for you and stored until you are ready to start a family. The remaining half are then donated to a matched recipient of your eggs.
Donated eggs are in low supply in the UK, so choosing to Freeze and Share could make a real difference to another couple who might otherwise not be able to have a child. As well as giving another woman the chance to undergo fertility treatment, your altruistic donation will mean your treatment comes at a reduced cost: your egg freezing cycle will be free of charge, and we will only charge £750 towards screening tests and medication.
Why might I consider freezing my eggs?
A woman's fertility typically starts to decline in their mid-thirties, as their eggs naturally decline in quality and quantity. For some women, having a family before their mid-thirties may not be an option. They may feel that they are not ready, they may wish to focus on their career, or they may just not have found the right partner. For these women, egg freezing offers an opportunity to preserve their fertility and family planning. By freezing and storing younger, healthier eggs they can improve their chances of success when the time is right for them.
Although there is no guarantee that stored, frozen eggs will result in a pregnancy, recent improvements in egg freezing technology have made the survival rates of frozen eggs exceed 80%. As such, freezing your eggs when you are younger and your eggs are healthier, can increase your chances of conceiving later in life.
Why choose to donate?
For women who have a low egg reserve in their ovaries, have experienced early menopause, or have become infertile after cancer treatment, donor eggs may be their only option to have a baby. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of donor eggs in the UK, so by choosing to donate, you will be making a huge difference to these women.
There is a lot to consider when thinking about donating your eggs. It’s particularly important to understand that the UK donor anonymity law means that any children conceived from donated eggs (or sperm) have the right to seek information about donors once they reach the age of 18.
What’s included in the Freeze and Share package?
At abc IVF, our standard egg freezing package is a comprehensive and affordable fertility package which even includes stimulation medication and monitoring blood tests, costing £3,595. For details on what is included in the package click here. If you do opt to help other women with ‘Freeze and Share’, you will receive full treatment for £750.
This will include everything you need for the treatment process, as well as one year’s worth of annual storage fees. After the first year, annual storage costs £350 for each year that your eggs are kept frozen. Current laws allow egg storage for a maximum period of ten years. There are, however, some situations in which this storage limit can be extended. We would recommend that you discuss this with your clinician if you would like further information.
Who can do Freeze and Share, and what does the process involve?
Our Freeze and Share option is open to all women who meet the legal criteria for egg donation – namely, you should be aged between 18 and 35 years, have a BMI of between 18 to 30 and must be a non-smoker. We will also need to ensure you have a good ovarian reserve and a clear medical history, with no significant genetic or inheritable disorders.
An egg freezing cycle involves a handful of visits to our clinic and a few days of medication. The first step is hormonal stimulation, which matures an optimal number of eggs. During the hormonal stimulation part of the cycle you will need to visit the clinic three or four times for scans, blood tests and medication. Once the egg sacs are an appropriate size, your eggs will be collected and frozen using vitrification (fast freezing). Our team will be with you every step of the way, supporting you during your journey.
What happens after the egg collection procedure?
After the procedure, we will let you know if and how many eggs have been collected. Half the eggs will then be allocated to you and half for donation. If an odd number of eggs is collected, then the extra egg will be stored for you.
After your donation, you can choose to write a short description of yourself and a goodwill message for the recipient of your eggs. The woman who receives your eggs will be given basic non-identifying information about you, to help them with the matching process. By law, any children born of donor eggs or sperm also have the right to access identifying information about their donor when they reach adulthood.
How do I start?
If you think ‘Freeze and Share’ could be suitable for you, or if you are interested in helping other women and want to find out more, contact us – we are always happy to help.
