Patient Case Study – Altrui Egg Donor matching
When Catherine (not her real name) discovered she would be unable to conceive a baby with her own eggs, she started to explore IVF treatment with donor eggs. After finding out the average wait for donor eggs in the UK is two years she started researching her options online. A friend recommended Altrui Egg Donation, having been through the egg donor matching process herself.
Catherine says that filling in the registration form on the website was the easy bit, next she waited for the call. “Mary reached out to me the very next day, there was no long wait to speak to someone. Mary really made me feel that she understood the pain I’d been through on this journey, and was very open about the whole egg donation process. I felt completely supported by her at every stage, she even texted me from her holiday to help me put my egg donor criteria together. There has always been such good communication with everyone from Altrui.”
The team at Altrui managed to find Catherine an egg donor within two months, a huge difference to the two years she was advised it could take at her previous clinic. “I felt elated and shocked all at the same time. There are no words to say thank you to the person who donated for me, I can’t explain it.”
“Mary sent me the details of the donor they had found for me. In terms of criteria, for me the most important thing was that the child would look like they were part of my family if we were walking down the street!” Following her matching process, Catherine was keen to move quickly with her IVF treatment. Altrui managed to turn around all of her tests, scans and paperwork within two weeks, so that she and the egg donor could proceed with treatment before Christmas.
Speaking about her journey with Altrui and Apricity, Catherine reflects that it has been a treatment that is reflective of modern life. Her fertility doctor Dr Sotirious Saravelos reassured her at every step “I found seeing the same doctor every time made such a difference. He helped break down the stats, my chances, and he was so honest. I really appreciated this.”
“My fertility advisor Poonam was always available to support me, I really appreciated having the instant chat with her through the app, every day. With previous clinics, if I had a question I would have to call or email in, wait for them to call me back, which was usually at an inconvenient time to me. With the app I just messaged Poonam in the chat and she would always get back to me with an answer within hours after talking with the medical team. I really liked that I could upload pictures into it, ask questions, chat and also tick off my medication. The Chat Functionality makes such a difference.”
Catherine is currently undergoing IVF treatment with Apricity. “I remain hopeful that the IVF will work, at least with Apricity I feel that I’m not walking this journey alone”.