This last weekend the WSJ.com ran a heart-wrenching essay written by Holly Finn titled “My Fertility Crisis” detailing this 40-something year old woman’s journey through multiple failed IVF treatments.
The deeply personal piece brings to light the struggle that many couples face when the infertility treatment that they poor their emotional, physical, and financial resources into – fails.
The reality is that most IVF treatments do not result in a child. The average age of women seeking infertility treatment is 39 years of age, and by 40 a woman’s chance of the treatment actually resulting in a live birth is around 20%. Once she reaches 41 this drops to on 12%. Even more disheartening is that once a woman has failed a treatment, her likelihood the next time is even less.
In Ms. Finns story she reminisces how after several failed IVF treatments Ms. Finn asked her doctor, “Would a sane person bother trying again?”
Thankfully, she had a wonderful doctor who told her that there is nothing insane about hanging onto a thread of hope. Despite sinking chances of a baby her doctor is willing to support helping her pursue her dream of a family – while staying honest about the mere chances which he told her was only 5%.
Dr. Norber Gleicher, Medical Director of the Center for Human Reproduction, President of the Foundation for Reproductive Medicine, and Visiting Professor at Yale University came across Ms. Finn’s article and was moved by her message. As an infertility expert who specializes in “older women” he was particularly touched by the hopelessness that Ms. Finn conveyed in her essay.
“As a gynecologist and infertility expert, I – like most of my colleagues, of course – constantly try to create awareness about the importance of female age for successful reproduction,” he said. “The younger the better! But, increasingly, every time I make this point to an ‘older’ patient, I am uncomfortable about unwittingly aggravating her already unwarranted and excessive sense of guilt that is so well depicted in Ms. Finn’s essay.”
According to Dr. Gleicher there is no clear answer to how many infertility treatments are too many. He says that this depends wholly upon the individual circumstances of each woman. He does say, that this woman’s chances could be much greater should she choose to go with a donated egg.
“While genetic inheritance very clearly represents one of the primary purposes of reproduction, biological maternity is also of crucial importance to maternal-child bonding,” explained Gleicher. “Women today are no longer limited by their own reproductive lifespan (i.e. their ovaries’ ability to produce viable eggs) because (anonymous) egg donation has become widely available. In the United States, egg donation now represents the most rapidly growing fertility treatment within IVF.”
I strongly suggest reading Dr. Gleicher’s full response to Ms. Finn’s essay. It reminds us that in the booming infertility medical business there are still doctors, such as him, who really do care about creating miracles for patients who have lost all hope.
Further reading: Pregnancy after 40: Risk for Complications
