One formula for solidarity donation is the so-called egg-sharing. You undergo an IVF treatment using half of your own harvested eggs. But you donate the other half of your eggs
to another couple. The half which you donate is then fertilized with sperm from the husband of the acceptor woman and the embryos which develop are placed in her uterus.
It is often mistakenly thought that this method compromises your own chances of conceiving a child. However, studies contradict this view. Statistics prove that patients who participate in the egg sharing program have comparable chances of pregnancy to those who do not. If you then consider the fact that by participating, you possibly help two couples fulfill their wish for a child, it has to be worth it.
But why should you surrender your surplus eggs when you could have them fertilized and frozen for future use? The answer is that your chances of success are much higher with fresh embryos than with frozen. You should actually reverse the question: shouldnŐt you donate surplus eggs instead of having them fertilized and frozen? The chances that you will be successful in becoming pregnant as a result of a subsequent IVF treatment are higher. In the meantime you may have helped someone else to have a child.
The conditions for participating in a shared donation are that the stimulation course results in a number of sufficient eggs. There must be enough to provide a realistic chance of fertilization and development into embryos. In order to make this possible, at least twelve eggs must be retrieved, half of which will be donated. If the stimulation results in only eleven or less eggs, then they will all be used for your treatment and nothing will be donated. In cases where more than eight eggs are retrieved, half will be donated. If an odd number of eggs are obtained, you keep the extra one.
Surplus embryos: if the IVF treatment results in more embryos than can be placed by the receiving pair, they will be frozen and used at a later date.
Anonymous: shared donation is always performed anonymously. The donor couple remains unaware of the identity of the acceptor couple. Similarly, the acceptors are unaware of the donorŐs identity.
