Helping others conceive a child

Back in 1994 Cheryl Davies, from Garswood donated her eggs via Billinge Hospital.

Although the fertilisation was unsuccessful, the 49-year-old encourages others to consider helping another woman conceive.

During her lunch hours Cheryl, a civil servant, underwent a series of nine injections to increase egg production.

Usually women produce one ovum a month, but doctors like to “harvest” three to implant into a patient because it increases the chance of conception.

The eggs are then taken from Billinge to the patient at Wigan Infirmary.

Cheryl, who is a mother to Bethany, 25, and Gareth, 22, said: “It had always been in the back of my mind even before my youngest son was born.

“I worked with a lady who was going through a form of IVF know gamete intra-fallopian transfer (GIFT) and I thought it was such a shame that she was unable to have a child.

“After Gareth was born I researched it and so in May 1994 I decided to donate my eggs.

“It was very straightforward.

“It was a month of my life where I had injections to boost my hormones in my lunch hour and then I had five days off work after a laparoscopy (a surgical procedure that allows a surgeon to access the inside of the abdomen) to take the eggs out.

“Doctors at Billinge Hospital harvested nine eggs and some of them were give to a woman.

“The rest of the eggs that were not needed were not used.

“There was no opportunity to save them for anyone else.

“The whole thing is done anonymously so we don’t know who receives the eggs, however you are allowed to check to see if it works and whether or not a baby was born.

“But unfortunately the woman that time did not get pregnant, which is such a shame.

“I wanted someone to have the same experience I had of conceiving and carrying a child.

“It would have been nice to think I had helped someone have a child.”

Cheryl said although it was a simple procedure, she only intended to do it once and would urge other women to come forward.

She said: “It is such a simple thing to do.

“Women probably don’t even think about the fact that they can donate their eggs to help out another woman.

“However, if they do, they can give someone the perfect gift - a child.”