Giving Hope Through Egg Donation: Why Donor Eggs are Needed and How They're Used

Egg donation is one of the most amazing things you can do. By donating eggs, you’re giving the hope of a family to women who otherwise wouldn’t be able to have children.

There are lots of different reasons a woman may need to use donor eggs. Factors may be age-related infertility, premature menopause, or she may have had treatment for cancer that has left her infertile.

Whatever the cause, deciding to use donor eggs isn’t an easy decision for our patients, to whom we give a lot of personal support and care. But it’s the only chance they have of having a child of their own. And you can help to make it happen.

Donated eggs: How they’re used

When you donate some of your eggs, they are used in IVF treatment. Donated eggs are fertilised with either your recipient partner’s sperm, or donor sperm. The best resulting embryo is then transferred to your recipient, in the hope it implants and she becomes pregnant.

Fresh or frozen egg donor cycle

Recipient patients have the choice of fresh or frozen donor eggs at Manchester Fertility. If a patient chooses a fresh donor eggs cycle, her IVF treatment is carefully and precisely synchronised with her chosen egg donor’s donation cycle. The donated eggs will be fertilised as soon as they are collected.

In the case of frozen donor eggs, this type of treatment cycle uses donor eggs from our egg donors that we have safely preserved in our laboratory. It doesn’t involve any synchronisation of cycles, as the eggs are ready to be thawed and fertilised.

Any good quality embryos remaining from treatment cycles can be stored by us for future use, so your recipient has the chance to extend her family in future using the same egg donor, or can undergo Frozen Embryo Transfer if her cycle isn’t successful first time around.

What you can know as an egg donor

If you want to, the nice part about egg donation is finding out your eggs have helped someone achieve their dream of a baby. You can ask to find out if your recipient is pregnant, and are entitled to find out the year of the baby’s birth and its gender.

Egg donor compensation & counselling

As a Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) registered egg donor you’re also entitled to compensation. Set at £750 per egg donation cycle, your compensation reflects the time and commitment you have kindly given to be an egg donor and covers all your expenses such as travel.

You’ll also receive through implications counselling from our expert counselling team. This is so you fully understand what being an egg donor means, including the fact that a donor-conceived person can apply to the HFEA when they turn 18 if they wish to find out who their egg donor is.

And you’ll also be personally supported every step of the way by our Donation Team, dedicated to giving all our egg donors the highest-quality care at all times.

Become an egg donor in Manchester & Cheshire

So why not join the award-winning Manchester Donors egg donor programme? If you’re aged 18-35, you can give hope today. Apply online here or have a chat to our friendly team on 0161 300 2734.