Couples waiting two years for eggs in donor shortage

Figures reveal that 500 couples in the capital are in desperate need of a donor so they can become parents.

This includes women who have undergone cancer treatment, early menopause or other medical conditions which leave them unable to conceive with their own eggs.

Fertility expert Lara Peterkin, from King's College Hospital, warned that the waiting list was increasing every year because not enough women were signing up as donors. Mrs Peterkin, from the hospital's assisted conception unit, said: "Unfortunately, due to a shortage of donors, the average wait for an egg across the London region is approximately two and a half years with the length of wait increasing year on year.

"Like many areas, in and around London there's a lack of awareness there is a donor shortage. Many women simply don't realise that donors are needed or that they themselves could become a donor."

King's is today launching its Give Hope, Give Life campaign, aimed at recruiting women aged 23 to 35 to donate their eggs.

They will help people like Claire Horner, a magistrate in her early forties, who was left infertile after breast cancer treatment which triggered an early menopause.

She and her management consultant husband Dennis were desperate to have children so joined the donor waiting list. But there was further heartbreak to endure when her first two attempts failed.

Her son Jack, now two and a half, was born in 2006 and the couple, from Richmond, are now planning another baby. This time they are using a Ukrainian egg donor and English surrogate because of the long waiting list in Britain.

Mrs Horner urged women to join the register, saying: "Egg donation is a wonderful gift that has allowed us to have the family we dreamed of. The woman who donated her eggs transformed our lives."

About one in six couples in Britain experiences fertility problems. These women can be helped through assisted conception including egg donation. The donated egg is fertilised with the father's sperm and then implanted into the mother.

London is one of five regions in the country identified by the National Gamete Donation Trust where demand for eggs greatly outweighs supply. A YouGov poll of 1,598 women published today shows that seven out of 10 women underestimate the extent of fertility problems. Six out of 10 surveyed also did not appreciate how long the wait would be for an egg donor.