'I'm donating my eggs to help other families'

A woman who donated her eggs before having a family of her own said she wanted to give other people the chance to have children.

Marianne Ward, 28, from Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, decided to donate her eggs to a fertility clinic in London.

Ms Ward said: "I know how much it means to me to one day have kids of my own and I thought, why not? If it means that much to me, I know it means that much to other people too."

Research shows that fertility challenges are increasing, with one in seven couples now struggling to conceive.

Ms Ward said: "I've always wanted kids but haven't found the right person yet.

"It's a donation. If I don't ever meet the child, that is fine. For me, I know this child is wanted and they're going to have a great life.

"The support was really good. The hormones they gave me, I'd take home.

"At the end of two weeks, I'd go in for a procedure. I'm receiving support after too, getting blood tests to make sure everything is OK."

A recent report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN agency for reproductive rights, warned hundreds of millions of people were not able to have the number of children they wanted.

UNFPA surveyed 14,000 people in 14 countries about their fertility intentions.

One in five said they have not had or expect they will not have their desired number of children.

Jamie Forster, senior fertility counsellor at London Women's Clinic, said people thought differently about family planning today than they might have in the past.

"Family planning is something we think about a lot, particularly as women," Ms Forster said.

"Every decision we make in our lives has to be rooted around that decision, we don't have endless fertility.

"People don't just get into a romantic relationship anymore and assume having children is the next step.

"Young people are amazing now because they are thinking about these things in a bigger way."

Becky Kearns was diagnosed with premature ovarian insufficiency in 2014, meaning she did not have enough eggs to get pregnant.

"I was 28, the same age Marianne is now, when I was essentially heading into early menopause," she said.

"We eventually decided to explore egg donation. It wasn't an easy decision to make. There was a lot of grief around losing my genetics and fear around not being seen as the real mum."

Ms Kearns and her partner went through the donation process 10 years ago and now have three daughters.

"There was a beautiful moment when my daughter said to me, 'I think I know where my curls come from'," Ms Kearns said.

"She said 'I think my donor put a little bit of blue and some curls into the egg and that's why I have curls and blue eyes'."

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