Hi girls,
I am just thinking ahead but this could be the route I have to go down and I am after some advice or knowledge pls.

If my sister is an egg donor to me, but she lives in the uk and would have to come over on a tourist visa (ie non resident)is she allowed to be an egg donor to me in Australia? I am now an Australian citizen and with SIVF, I just wondered how it works with medicare and any relevant laws in Australia regarding non-residents being egg donors?

Also, does anyone know how long the "waiting list" is with SIVF to receive an embryo donation or unknown egg donor?

sorry if I sound clueless, this is new territory for me.

thanks in advance
Sarah x

Hi Sarah,

Congrats on having a donor! What a wonderful sister you have

There's a section on the SIVF website about patients from overseas, but not sure about donors. I'm pretty sure she'd just need about a three month tourist Visa. There may be something different about the consent forms for donation...maybe she'd have to sign something under UK laws too? I'd give SIVF a call and ask them all your questions...and I'm sure their accounts dept. will help you sort out what's claimable with medicare etc. Good luck!
Rain xx

Hey sarah,

I think I would give SIVF a call about the Medicare stuff... as I am sure you know, they have a terrific finance department there to help you will all this stuff.

I think you'll find she's not covered and you'll be up for the full cost. Best to check though.

I think it will cost you more Sarah, sounds like a good back up plan for you though.
Can't help with the wait list at SIVF, (do they have one ?) I was never offered to go on one.
But I guess they must have one
Would be interested to know if you find out.
If you do go down this path, I would suggest getting the counselling done over the phone before she heads out here, this would save lot's of time.
Good Luck
X

Hi Sarah,

I asked my FS this exact question recently because I too have had an offer of being an egg donor from one of my friends in the UK. Apparantly (well, according to my clinic in Bris anyway), it is quite *common* to do ED using an overseas donor. The protocol may vary slightly from clinic to clinic, but I guess the general rules will be the same - This is the info I have found out...

* She won't have to sign anything at the UK end to say that she is doing this in Oz - and the tourist visa will be fine.
* It will cost about $10k all up because you will have to pay for her drugs / treatments because she won't be covered for anything by medicare. Plus you will no doubt cover the cost of her flight over in addition.
* She can start taking synarel in the UK - you can send it over to her. Meanwhile, your FS will regulate your cycle to be the same as hers.
* She *could* start the FSH in the UK (again, you can mail the drugs over to her), but my FS prefers them to fly over here in time for that so he can monitor her himself.
* She would need to arrive a day or so before starting FSH for scan/bt. And expect to be here for the 10 days or so of stimming, plus another 4 days afterwards to make sure she is ok.

To give you an idea, the egg donor waiting list at QFG in Bris is about 6-7 years, so likely that SIVF will be something similar. I was thinking that I might get my name on it now just in case...

Hope that helps, K.x.

Hi

I'm pretty sure SIVF wouldn't have a DE/embryo waiting list as they have a strict "known donor" policy. I know there are other clinics in Sydney that have lists, but not sure who they are sorry.

Hope it's all possible with your sister and not too costly! I have just completed a donor cycle and it is expensive ugh!

Oh wow, thanks girls for all this information. I have found out sivf do have a strict known donor policy so obviously that is a no go! I think I had better start saving, as this is obviously going to be costly (I thought PGD was bad!).

Well I am hoping that my sister is up for it, she has 3 children and is younger than me and says to our mum all the time "I wish I could do something for Sarah to help..." so I have yet the courage to ask her outright but I think she might do it. Otherwise there is another possibility of someone in australia i know who has done it before but I dont know her that well.

thanks girls, good luck to you all with your current cycles. xx

I have an exciting update, I received an email over night from my sister to say "I can have any bit of her I like!!" before I could even get the chance to ask her. Amazingly a documentary has been on in the UK about IVF and AC and last night was about donor eggs between sisters (twins). She rang my mum who was also watching, and told her that she would do it for me!!! I can't believe the timimg, its like it was meant to be. I know we have a long road to go but I think it might just happen. Thanks for all your help girls, I might be back with further questions if that is ok, thanks Kay for all that info too, and X-F I will be PMing you back, thanks again.
Kay - see you back in our usual home :wink:

sarah xx

Hmnn - was on the phone to Sydney IVF yesterday wanting to do an unknown DE cycle before April. They didnt mention anything to me that they dont do unknowns. I am seeing the donor councillor soon though but it seems a waste of time me going if i cant do an unknown.

Prof Champman has worked in London with the fertility specialists who did my first donation. I seriously wouldnt risk her stimming prior to coming mind you the synarel may be OK but maybe some supervision in the UK would be poss???? OHSS is a real issue so monitoring of the follies has to be done

Good luck and awesome of your sis. Hope when she gets here she gets to have a great holiday too If she needs to talk to someone why dont you suggest she joins EB and id be happy for her to pm or email me having been through this once already and am about to go all over again

Em


Em

Thanks Em, I am going to send her the link for EB and I will show her the buddy groups on here. I think she will love it and find it most helpful.
My FS was quite firm with having to find our donor and when I said that might be difficult she didn't really suggest anything else but when I go and see her for a chat about it all I will be asking a few questions about this.

good luck with your egg donation, I am in awe of anyone who can do this and if the tables were turned I would not hessitate in being a donor myself. I'll be in touch to see how things are going.
all the best
sarah x

Oh yes, sorry if I didn't make this clear before...SIVF only do known-donations. They don't have a list of anonymous donors, recipients have to find their own. Then there is a series of implcations counselling for both parties and their partners...2 sessions each and then a combined one at the end.

Personally I am strongly in favour of known-donation and feel that anonymous donation or situations where children are not given access to their genetic history are potentially painful and unfair to the child, but each to their own.

Good luck with whatever you do!
Rain xx

I was just in here having a nosey the other day, and wanted to wish you all the very very very best.. what a wonderful gift your sister is willing to give you.

I was then in my clinic(Monash IVF) paying for my Jan cycle a few days ago, and on the pricelisting I saw this and thought of you... anyway this is what they charge at Monash, to give you an idea of the costs:

Overseas known donor/Aust Recipient : $7877.95

Again all the very best

HI Andrea

thanks for that! That is considerably cheaper than in sydney - so far I have been quoted $10,000 from ivf australia and typically enough sivf $12,000!! had no idea it would cost so much but hey, ho, if its got to be.

all the best to you for your up-coming cycle.
sarah x

Hi Sarah,

Just came across your post and wanted to pop in to say hello and offer some encouragement. I'm very sorry to see that you still haven't had any luck with your own eggs, but its very exciting that your sister is a willing donor. What an ideal situation if you are to go down this path. As I think you know I am now 7mths pregnant with a donor egg baby- And the donor is a resident of Aus but a french citizen - and with no reciprocal agreement for medicare with Aus so i had to pay all her expenses. It cost me about $10000 for her part with no rebates but my part was covered as usual and was less than a usual full cycle anyway as it was much simpler at my end. (cant remember exact amount but it was also with SIVF). There are various tests your sister would have to do first, just standard bloods and an ultrasound that she could do in the UK, then the counselling which probably can be done via phone. As someone else said she cabn alos probably start the first part of the cycle over there too and be here once stimming starts. As england and aus have a medicare agreement you may be able to get some recompense even though she is on a tourist visa - its worth investigating. I know its expensive but for us it worked first time (and with 2 in the freezer) so it was sooooo worth it! And endless cycles of your own with not good chances are expensive anyway as you and I both know. Anyway i wish you the best of luck with it all and feel free to PM me any time as i am just lurking in this part of the forums.

Tracy xx