FELIXSTOWE: A couple from Felixstowe who tried to conceive for four years today told of their delight at finally welcoming a new arrival into their family.
Faith and David Myers had years of disappointment before successful IVF treatment at the former Isis Fertility Centre, which is now called Bourn Hall.
The arrival of baby Olivia-Grace on December 7, 2009, was the best Christmas present they could have asked for.
The couple brought their baby to the opening of the Bourn Hall clinic, in Colchester, which officially opened its doors for the first time after taking over from the Isis Feritility clinic last November.
As well as announcing plans to expand facilities so it can cater for more patients from Suffolk and Essex, it also announced that the clinic’s pregnancy rate has increased by four per cent over the last year across all treatment areas.
This Saturday also marks the first anniversary of NHS East of England becoming the first region in the country to fund eligible couples for up to six attempts at achieving a pregnancy with fertility treatment.
Mrs Myers, 39, said: “David and I always knew we wanted a family, and after four years of trying we started to get worried.
“We had tried everything to increase our chances of success and nothing was happening.
“There didn’t seem to be a clinical reason I wasn’t becoming pregnant and this added to the frustration, especially as I was now in my late 30s.
“We tried some fertility drugs and then were advised to try IVF.
“Unfortunately we didn’t meet the criteria for treatment funded by the NHS so we decided to go as private patients to the former Isis Fertility Centre in Colchester.”
She added: “Olivia is all that we wanted.
“After all those years this is everything that we had hoped for.”
Dr Efstathios Diakos, newly appointed lead clinician at Bourn Hall, said: “Nothing compares to the joy that you feel to see a couple coming back to the clinic holding close a baby they may have come to believe they would never have.”
n Have you faced difficulties conceiving? Write to Your Letters, Evening star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here