Sam Walsh has described the “shock” and “anger” that she had to endure as she gradually came to terms with the failure of IVF to grant her a child – a common, but often untold, reality for the majority of women undergoing in vitro fertilisation.
“Whenever you see someone going through IVF in a film, they always walk away with a happy ending. But life is not like that. A lot of the time, fertility treatment does not work and thousands of women face the heartbreak of knowing they will never be mothers”, said Sam.
Recounting her own experience, Sam bravely relayed the gruelling process that is IVF, including, in her own case, surgery to remove her fallopian tubes that, in the process, damaged her ovaries.
“It was devastating… I was only in my early thirties and you hear about people’s miracle success stories…
“Over the course of three long years, I endured hormone injections, scans and tests. When our third round failed in 2012, we were told our only hope was donor eggs.”
After thinking it through, Sam and her husband, Liam, decided against using donor eggs. “My body and my emotions could not take anymore”, explained Sam. Liam also wanted his life back.
Sadly, the couple later separated.
The painful data
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) recently revealed that out of roughly 51,000 patients undergoing IVF treatment every year, between 2016-2018, just over a third had a successful live birth.
For example, in 2018, the most recent year in which data is available, the success rate was 38.3%, and only 28.3% successful in terms of individual IVF cycles (69,137 cycles, 19,604 live births).
The data was released after a Parliamentary question by DUP MP Jim Shannon last week.
A lack of transparency
SPUC’s Daniel Frampton said: “Not only does IVF carry a huge human price tag – in that only around one in 25 embryos created through IVF survive to birth, with many embryos simply being discarded – but it also comes at a huge emotional cost for the woman and her partner, as Sam’s tragic story reveals.
“Our hearts go out to Sam and other such persons whose treatment in most cases does fail. SPUC has repeatedly called on the IVF industry to be transparent regarding the success rates of IVF, which, as HFEA data reveals, is low.
“Last year, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), in conjunction with HFEA, released draft industry guidance to ensure that the British IVF industry does not mislead desperate couples, as SPUC reported on at the time.
“In many cases, the fertility industry plays on the dreams of couples by giving them false hope, often at huge expense, both monetarily and emotionally. Such a process can be very destructive to the lives of many would-be parents.
“As the CMA has stated, this is not acceptable.”