The Funding Appeal

I alternated between dejection and anger when I knew we'd been refused NHS funding for our PGD treatment. We seemed to tick all of the boxes - we were the right age, had no children, I had never been pregnant, we were the right weight, in a stable relationship . . . .

Why on earth would they not fund us? And just as frustratingly, why would they not tell us the reason they had refused us?? It took my genetic counsellor and the embyologist at CARE to ring the PCT to find out why they had said no. I felt so out of control at this time - I was the bloody patient, why are they treating me like an imbecile!?

Anyway, it turned out that they had decided not to fund us as they had misinterpreted a letter from CARE stating that our fertility was normal. Of course, it was not. H was unlikely to get me pregnant due to the sperm issues so we would need ICSI anyway.

I remember turning up at my mum's house in the midst of all this stress and just breaking down. I felt like this was just too much and that I was banging my head against a brick wall. I have usually kept my outbursts of emotion quite private, but this time I couldn't hold it all in.

Anyway, I picked myself up again off the floor (wondering how many more times I would have to do that) and got on with composing an appeal to the PCT. I left no stone unturned: letters were included from my auntie who has CF children, from the genetic counsellor, from CARE, and we even managed to extract a brief statement from our very begrudging GP. We sent the appeal off in December and waited with trepidation for the outcome.

Two days before Christmas, we found out that the appeal had been successful!! Wonderful news in itself but also wonderful in the way that it gave both of us a real boost. Like suddenly we could see a tiny pinprick of light at the end of a long tunnel. The PCT agreed to fund one fresh cycle of PGD IVF and two frozen cycles, if we are lucky enough to get any 'spare' embryos to freeze.

We decided to relax and enjoy Christmas, pleased that we were finally on our way.