A woman who has suffered NINE miscarriages has launched a crowdfunding campaign to pay for a further course of IVF treatment.
Pamela Mackenzie is looking to raise £6,000 to help pay for IVF as she no longer qualifies for a free round of treatment from NHS Scotland as she has had two previous cycles.
The 36-year-old, from Edinburgh, says that she was “determined to keep trying” despite a heartbreaking round of miscarriages dating back 17 years.
She has also suffered the agony of an ectopic pregnancy where the embryo implants itself outside the womb.
Pamela was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) – a condition that making it difficult to get pregnant – when she was just 13-years-old.
She was told by her local GP that she would need help to conceive a child and not to wait too long.
Pamela started trying for a child when she was 19 and suffered her first miscarriage at the age of 21 and the experience left her heartbroken.
She has wanted to be a mum for her “whole life” and her husband Ian wants to experience fatherhood.
She said: “I’m determined to keep trying because there’s something in me that just wants to keep fighting to try and get pregnant and have a kid.
“Every time I think about giving up I end up keeping going.
“I just think that, until I’ve tried everything possible, I don’t want to give up.
“It would mean the world to me. If you asked me what I wanted to do as a job when I was young, I would have said ‘be a mum’.
“It’s been something that I’ve wanted to do my whole life.
“I’ve got six nephews and they’re really good to me, they’re basically like sons to me.
“They’ve been there for me – they give me a card on Mother’s Day, to their auntie, but it’s just not the same as having your own kids.
“I just really want to experience that, my husband feels the same – he wants to be a dad.
“It’s quite sad when it’s Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and you are sitting there thinking ‘it’s just the two of us’ – but he’s always going to be there for me, whatever happens.
“If we come to the end of the road and we’re told there’s just no possibility this is going to happen for us then we would look into fostering or
adopting.”
As of April, funding for IVF treatment on the NHS will not be provided to couples where either partner has already received the number of NHS-funded IVF treatment cycles supported by NHS Scotland, regardless of where in the UK they received treatment.
The crowdfunding campaign on gofundme has so far raised £925 of their overall £6,000 goal and was set up by Ian’s cousin Kerry Proudfoot.
Despite being ruled out for free IVF treatment, the couple, who have been together for 19 years and married for nine, are determined to continue their efforts to raise the money for a further cycle.
Pamela added: “We’ve been overwhelmed and crying tears of joy over the kindness that our friends and family have shown by donating and the things they have been saying about us as well.
“It can cost anything between £5-£10k, we’re looking for £6k but we’re saving ourselves in case it costs more.
“I’ve had two IVF cycles on the NHS a few years ago but then I had frozen embryos from one of the cycles that I transferred to the Glasgow Centre for Reproductive Medicine, a private hospital.
“The money we had saved up went on this – around £2,500 – and it took a long time, there were quite a few years between the last IVF treatment and the frozen embryo transfer.”
NHS Lothian confirmed they spent £2.59 million on providing IVF treatment to eligible couples in 2016-2017 – more than in the two previous years.
Tracey Gillies, medical director at NHS Lothian, said: “We work entirely in line with Scottish Government guidelines regarding IVF treatment.”
