When we started Altrui five years ago, it was our plan that we would be able to give people the very best chance of starting a family with the help of an egg donor. Most people arrive at egg donation after a long difficult journey full of heartache and disappointment, but also with hope, and our aim has been to turn this hope into reality.
In order to get it right for both donors and recipients, we were absolutely committed to two main principles:
- making sure that the donor should be cared for and supported all along the way, and
- that recipients had all the eggs that she donated rather than share them with another couple.
The intention behind this second one being that:
- should it not be successful the first time, the couple had another chance with frozen blastocysts but also importantly that,
- a single donation from one amazing donor could result in siblings that were genetically related.
Now, five years on, Altrui is seeing the fantastic results from this policy, with four couples currently pregnant with a fully genetically related sibling for the first donor child. We believe that this is the first time in the UK where an anonymous altruistic donor has managed to help a couple become a family that are genetically related and not twins.
We know that those donors who have helped this vision become true feel, rightly so, incredibly proud with what they have helped achieve.