It is not an option, but a necessity — 10 frozen eggs
December 07, 2015
What is the perfect life? Education degree? Successful career? Making lots of money? Or happy family? If someone could have all of them, she may be the winner in life. In the real world, nothing is completely perfect, but these goals in life could be achieved after overcoming several setbacks and discouragements.
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Ms. Hung came to the iCryo bank for egg cryopreservation when she was 42. She was definitely a typical winner among the peers. From senior high to college, she always studied at the top schools and got the top credits. After finishing the education in Taiwan, she went to U.S. for her PhD degree, and then received an offer at an international corporation. Since she was so talented and outgoing, she became the chief executive officer of Asian branch pretty soon.
However, the busy affairs interrupted her private life, and it resulted in breakup with her ex-boyfriend. Suddenly, a typical winner in life turned into the woman left on the shelf. "I am intelligent and independent, and I still believe in love." She didn't feel frustrated about the situation, and kept encouraging herself to overcome the situation.
"I am alone but not lonely. However, I would not like to be lonely in the future." She knew that she would like to be a mother, surrounding by her own children and sharing time with them. "Thus I decide to freeze my eggs."
The hormone test at Stork Fertility Center showed not optimistic. With age at 42, her AMH level was only 1.4 ng/mL. "Obviously, I missed the golden age to do egg freezing, but I have no choice. I can only decide to do or not to." After two cycles of stimulation, she harvested 10 valuable eggs.
AMH (ng/mL) | > 2 | < 2 | < 0.8 |
Reserved number of the oocytes | Enough | Obviously decrease | Severely decrease |
Stimulated number of oocytes | 4< | ≦4 | 1~2 |
Doctor' s suggestions | Start considering to freeze the oocytes based on my ovarian age | Start freezing my oocytes as soon as possible | Start freezing my oocytes as soon as possible |
Three years later, she encountered another dilemma. The work schedule was still tight, and the Mr. Right still didn't show up. "My biological clock is warming. I am afraid that I have no energy to raise my child even I could have one." She explained her anxiety to the consultant at iCryo bank. The problem existed in the Taiwan Assisted Human Reproduction Act. The law forbids single women to undergo IVF, including the use of donated sperm. Meanwhile, she was diagnosed as having uterine myoma.
She came back to meet the consultant. Both sides decided to cryotransfer the frozen eggs to U.S. The iCryo bank helped her with the complicated bureaucracy, and it took almost two months to wait. Beside using the donated sperm, the American doctor suggested her to apply for surrogacy program because her uterus was not adequate to be implanted.
"I am not a fan of mixed-blood baby."
"I just want to be a mother, and give all my love to my baby."
"I used the Caucasian's donated sperm, and applied for surrogacy. It is because I can't, not that I want to."
Fortunately, the following process went on smoothly. The frozen eggs were thawed and fertilized by the donated sperms. The embryo was soon transferred into a surrogate mother's womb. Two weeks later, an overseas call notified her that the pregnancy test was positive. Three months later, an ultrasound photo with a record of fetal heartbeat were sent into her email.
"The baby was waving his small hands. I can see him!" She showed the photo to our consultants and repeated the record again and again.
Public opinions and criticism? "Nobody can take the responsibility for my future, except myself. I am happy with my decisions and proud of myself."
We are happy with her news as well.
For some people, egg freezing is not an option, but a necessity.
Maybe it is not easy to push a revolution in the Taiwanese legislation, but to find a solution for the needed is what we can do.