US Donor

[donorsyd]

Hi All

We are just starting on the journey of looking for a donor. I see on the internet that donors are availble in the US. We are exploring all options. Does anybody have any info or experience with donor eggs from US?

Thanks in Advance
G&K

[ellie66]

I haven't had any experience with donors from the US, but as far as I have heard, unlike here, you can pay the donor. It would probably be easier to find someone because of this, but with having to travel and pay someone, the cost would probably be prohibitive. Give it a chance here before thinking of going down that route - there are some beautiful women out there who want to help women in our situation.
Good luck!
Ellie

[petalynn]

iHi, I have done some research on donors in the US. This is what I believe happens. YOu can use a Donor Agency who will have ladies on their schedule. You choose the donor and pay an upfront fee to book the donor. These donor agencies are not IVF clinics and they can almost charge what they like. You can find an IVF clinic who have donor programmes and I believe it is a little less expensive. I did receive some info from one Agency and here is some of the email - sorry this is so long:
"Our agency works with traditional (fresh) donor eggs and frozen donor eggs. The procedure is primarily the same for both choices. However, the frozen egg procedure can be completed more quickly and is generally less expensive (especially since their are no donor travel fees).
We have not received clearance to ship frozen eggs to Australia, but we can ship eggs anywhere in America. This would require you to come to the USA for a short period of time. If you came to Los Angeles then we would suggest using our consulting physician, Dr. John Jain (he freezes our donor's eggs and has worked with most of our frozen egg recipients). To obtain one batch of frozen donor eggs (8 eggs) the fee is $12,750usd to our agency plus any fees to the IVF clinic for such things as the egg thaw, fertilization, embryo transfer, etc.
Or you can choose to have the 2nd batch guarantee. This means if you don't achieve a live birth from the first batch, then you'll receive a 2nd batch of frozen donor eggs for free.
The other option is to come to America for a traditional egg donation. These eggs are live and any embryos left over are yours to keep (frozen) for a later cycle. The fee to retain a donor for a live cycle is $15,500usd to our agency plus any donor travel fees and your IVF clinic fees. Donor's are generally available, we just need your time frame.

I did read in a magazine recently about a lady who had gone to Russia to get donor eggs. It is a lot cheaper in Russia - I think I worked out around $15,000 - $20,000(AUS$) for the whole cycle, including flights and accomodation.

We have choosen not to proceed with these options it is just far to expensive for us. I hope this helps.

[Junicle]

If you can afford it DO IT! It is the flight, hotel and food expense that makes things so expensive. The laws in the US are so much friendlier. It makes life a lot easier. My friends went to the US and picked a donor very quickly. Went on a vacation, and now is currently 2 months pregnant. They are crossing there fingers and really haven't told anyone except for me and my husband, since I am in a similar situation. They will probably announce after the first trimester. My husband and I can't afford to go to the US and pick a donor, so we are trying to do it here. However, we may just end up going to the US and and put it on our credit card because I am just so jealous of my friend. She expressed that it was very easy. Her agency did everything for them and all they had to do was get the necessary screening and go for the transfer. They took a little vacation to CA and came back pregnant. If you want, I can get the agency name and her doctor's name. Good luck, all I know is that they have a larger pool to choose from and many women just waiting to be your donor. If you can afford it, don't waste time, because you and I both know that TIME is something we just don't have.. Good luck JC

[petalynn]

Hi Junicle,

Could you PM me with info you have on overseas donors - every bit of info helps. I don't know anyone who has actually gone overseas. It was something we were interested in but the cost and we were worried about basically getting ripped off - paying upfront and then arriving to find every thing was a scam. Also the whole organising of it.

Thanks