“All my stressing was for nothing”

f4a51b4536b087af3a55871cfb05379a“Never in my 21 years of life did i ever imagine myself willingly choose to go for an operation or procedure thingy.

When I first came across Nurture, I googled it and came across the website. I saw the R6000 compensation and naturally, as a student that caught my attention. I read up more and more about it and started to really consider becoming a donor. I chatted to friends and family, with many having negative things to say like “but it will be your child running around” but I had a broader mind then those few.

So off I went to Johannesburg (a City I had never been to) for my initial appointment, nervous as anything but I was welcomed with open arms. It started to feel so surreal and it was a bit overwhelming seeing all the women in the clinic, not your age, who are obviously the ones having problems conceiving.

Before I knew it, it was time for the actual donation process to start, and yet again I could not believe I voluntarily injected myself every day – a tiny painless prick.

Procedure day arrived and I was a wreck. I had never been under sedation, never been to an operating theatre and I never go to the Doctor unless I am dying! So there I was, I sat and waited for my turn to go in, heart racing and imaging how sh*t and painful I was going to feel afterwards.

Nonetheless, my gynae came in and chatted to me as he does, and well let us just say that was the best three hour nap I have ever had! I was out of the sedation after about 30 minutes, however I was so comfy and so relaxed I chose to sleep an extra two hours.

My oh my, I look back now and I can’t believe what a simple procedure that all was! All my stressing was for nothing, if only I had listened to the nurses in the first place! In the end I realised the R6000 compensation was nothing compared to the warm and fuzzy feeling you have afterwards, knowing that parents who are so desperate to have a family, might have a chance at it now”

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Tertia

Tertia Albertyn is the founder of Nurture - South Africa’s longest-running and most successful Egg Donation Program. An accomplished speaker and an award-winning published author, as well as an ex-infertility patient herself, she is highly regarded in South Africa and internationally for the work she does in infertility. Tertia was instrumental in establishing the first FDA-approved frozen donor egg bank in Africa. Tertia has an MBA from the University of Cape Town and lives in Cape Town, South Africa with her husband and three children.