Banbury couple donate eggs and sperm to help 16 couples start a family

Dedicated paramedics Nay Chadbourne, 33, and husband Luke, 37, have donated 84 eggs and sperm to enable the couples have children..

They decided neither of them wanted a family of their own - partially due to their intensive jobs as paramedics.

But after seeing friends struggle to conceive and have miscarriages, they decided to become donors.

Since they signed up with a private fertility clinic in April 2022, Luke has donated sperm to help 10 families and Nay has donated 84 eggs - helping six families.

Mrs Chadbourne said: "When you get married, the next question is always 'when are you having children'.

"We still get that a lot and we have been married four years. I don't want people to think I don't want them because I hate children.

"We just really don't want our own. We work as paramedics, we're very busy and we are part of a non-profit organisation that responds to natural disasters so can be asked to up and leave the country with short notice - we have very busy lives.” she said.

"Our main motivation is we have had friends who have gone through IVF and had multiple miscarriages which is heartbreaking.

"If someone else can make use of my eggs and Luke's sperm, then we want to help them in the same way we give blood and are on the stem cell register."

Mr Chadbourne said: "No one should have to justify their decisions to people. Fertility and choosing to have a family is a very personal matter. It can be difficult for other people who are struggling."

The pair met in 2016 and it was love at first sight. They moved in together eight months later.

Mrs Chadbourne first started thinking about egg donation at 27 when she decided she didn't want a family of her own.

The couple contacted TFP Oxford Fertility, (part of TFP Fertility UK - IVF and fertility specialists) and were accepted to become donors.

Mrs Chadbourne said: "Once I was signed off it was really straightforward. I injected myself for 14 days. You are constantly having scans the whole way through, which is great.

"The staff at TFP Oxford Fertility were so friendly and supportive, they really made me feel at ease at each stage of the process and kept us well informed. The first time I did it, I grew 39 eggs.”

First donors have to inject themselves for 14 days to suppress their natural hormone production. Then they have a scan to check that their natural cycle is fully suppressed.

A day or two before the eggs are collected, donors receive a hormone injection to help the eggs mature and then the eggs are collected during a small procedure.

Nay said her family ‘weren't thrilled’ when she told them she was going to donate her eggs.

She said: "I think it is more because they have nieces and nephews, we are all on ancestry websites and we know that if one of my donor children went on to that they would link. It's difficult to imagine having a biological link to someone you have no contact with.”