health

"I'd always dreamed of having children. Then my doctor told me I'd be in menopause by my 30s."

It has always been my dream to have a family of my own — but in July last year, I was told that wouldn’t be possible unless I was to have children before the age of 30.

It started when I went to my gynaecologist for a checkup, and he mentioned that I could get a blood test to determine my ovarian reserve. Although I suffer from endometriosis and have had two laparoscopies to remove it, I didn’t have any other symptoms to make me think that the test would come back abnormal. So I went ahead with the test, thinking it would be cool to know how many eggs I actually have left.

That’s when my whole life changed. Following the blood test, I received the devastating news that I would go through menopause in my early thirties.

I remember that day like it was yesterday. I was walking out the door to meet a friend when my gynaecologist called to tell me the results from my blood test had come back and it wasn’t good news. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing; I was in complete shock, as no one in my family has gone through menopause before the age of 50. Despite how I was feeling I still decided to spend the day with my friend to try and forget about what I had just been told.

Emma with her brother Samuel and sister Leah. (Image supplied)

It wasn’t until I got home later that night and saw my mum that I completely broke down. It finally hit me that my plan of taking life as it comes was not meant to be. I couldn’t comprehend how I was going to meet the right guy, get married and have children all in five years if I’ve never even had a boyfriend.

That’s when I started to think about freezing my eggs. I knew time was of the essence and I didn’t want to look back in five years time and still be single and regretting not having done anything about my situation earlier.

So after lots of time to think, and after being approved for a credit card to pay for the treatment, I completed my first round of IVF late last year where I was able to freeze seven eggs. I was happy with that number, but I decided to do another round in August this year in hope that I could freeze even more eggs; unfortunately my doctor was only able to freeze two. This was extremely disappointing as the treatment is very expensive and mentally and physically draining.

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Emma and her friend. (Image supplied)

I didn’t think I would have to do the treatment a third time, but it is recommended a woman freezes 10 eggs to give herself a chance of having just one baby. With this in mind I have decided to do another round of IVF, as I want to give myself the best opportunity possible to have a family of my own. Unfortunately I can’t afford to pay for a third treatment so I have setup a GoFundMe campaign to help with the costs.

I still haven’t come to terms with my condition and it will be a miracle if this all works out, but I’m living proof that miracles do happen.

My mum had trouble falling pregnant naturally and had to go through the GIFT program to conceive me. The GIFT program only has about a 22 per cent success rate of producing one baby and yet she got three babies — that’s right, I’m a triplet. In saying that, if things don’t work out it least I know I did everything possible to make my dream of having a family come true.

I recently saw a quote on Facebook and it really resonated with me: “If you don’t believe in miracles, perhaps you’ve forgotten that you are one.”

You can support Emma by donating to her GoFundMe page here