MRKH FAMILY BUILDING WEBINAR

Brianna is 29 years old living in Omemee, Ontario, Canada. She was diagnosed with MRKH at 16, so has known for quite some time that her path to parenthood would be unique. In 2021 she and her husband completed their first round of IVF, which resulted in 5 euploid embryos. They’ve been fortunate enough to connect with two amazing women willing to be their gestational carrier, the first a family friend who did 2 frozen embryo transfers which were unfortunately unsuccessful, and the second is their current surrogate, who they have unfortunately had 3 unsuccessful transfers with. To say that this journey has been a rollercoaster is an absolute understatement. Brianna has just finished their second round of IVF and are waiting on a final embryo report Through all of the negative betas, heartache, emotional, physical and financial tolls that this journey has had, This couple are still just as determined as ever to become parents 

Hanna’s engaged in surrogacy because she was born without a uterus, with a condition called MRKH. Since 2015 she has been a member of the “Föreningen för Surrogatmödraskap” board. Hanne  went public with her story,  helping a lot of other couples with guidance. She and her partner were lucky to have a baby girl in March 2016 through New Life, Georgia. For the last 1,5 years they have tried to have a second child without success. Recently they changed clinic and country to Ukraine. Hanna will share her experience from these two countries and her knowledge regarding the political situation in Sweden.

After after 5 years in surrogacy groups and not finding anybody, Hayley had an offer separately from Sophie, her slimming world consultant. She heard about Hayley’s story and offered to carry. Hayley had two rounds of ivf , resulting in five frozen embryos. Their first transfer worked first time. Rosie was born on 21.02 2022 she has just turned one. Hayley and Sophie remain amazing friends.

After becoming a mother to her own five children, Lisa became a surrogate twice, to a set of twins and then a singleton.  As President and CEO of Gestational  Surrogate Moms, she has guided and supported hundreds of Intended Parents and Surrogates through their surrogacy journey.. She actively promotes affordable family-building as a fundamental right. Lisa is currently the Education Chair of the US Society for Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy. In this role, Lisa creates educational curriculum and hosts monthly webinars for professionals on running an ethical surrogacy agency. Lisa promotes reproductive choice. In 2020, Lisa was invited by the President of Uganda to consult on regulations for ethical surrogacy and continues to take a lead role in Uganda’s fledgling surrogacy industry.

Mary is a mother to one daughter through gestational surrogacy. After being diagnosed with MRKH at the age of 18 Mary believed she’d never be the mum she longed to become. Aged 28, she and her husband looked into both surrogacy and adopting and decided to pursue surrogacy first. After two rounds of IVF and freezing twenty embryos, they started the process through a UK surrogate agency to find someone to carry their baby, only for Mary’s sister in law to turn around and selflessly offer to be her surrogate. The second transfer was successful and now Mary and her husband are parents to a wonderful and strong willed seven year old. Mary can be found on instagram at @mrotherywrites

Natalia is 30 years old,has MRKH and lives in Bulgaria with her husband Vasil who is turning 32. Bulgaria does not offer surrogacy, so they had planned to engage in surrogacy using Natalia’s eggs in Ukraine. Just as they were about to start, the Ukraine war broke out. They have instead created embryos in Georgia and their Georgian surrogate is 12 weeks pregnant. They will discuss their decision-making and what they have learned in the current enivronment.

Sam Everingham is the Global Director of Growing Families.  He has become one of the globe’s foremost commentators and researchers on donor & surrogacy trends and capacity. Through conferences, seminars and consulting he has assisted over a thousand singles and couples to plan safe and reliable routes to building families through surrogacy & donor IVF.

Sam has two daughters, Zoe & Ruby, via surrogacy and therefore is very aware of the issues, struggles and frustrations along the surrogacy path.  With a background in public health and research he is also the author of several books.