- The Tyler Medical Clinic Press -

"Harvesting" Eggs for Donation to Infertile Women:

Donation from independent procedure results in First Pregnancy.

Los Angeles, October 5, 1987 - Linda Bedre, the mother of two little girls, knows what it feels like to be infertile. For more than a decade, Linda was unable to conceive due to severe endometriosis. When a surgery finally corrected the problem, she wanted to help other women who had trouble conceiving. Linda recently donated her eggs (oocytes) to another woman at the TyIer Medical Clinic whose pregnancy test came back positive this week. Linda, who is 37 years old and a legal secretary, never expected any payment, and calls her donation "just a good deed."

Linda suffered from fertility problems herself for over fourteen years. She had her first major surgery at age 20. Hormonal therapy failed and produced tumors and cysts. At age 30, Linda was recommended to Dr. Jaroslav J. Marik, at the Tyler Medical Clinic in Los Angeles where she underwent a fourth operation to remove scar tissue so extensive that the surgical team had trouble locating her ovaries. At age 33, Linda gave birth to her first little girl.

Linda's egg donation represents the first successful pregnancy of its kind - the donation of an oocyte during an operation for an unrelated procedure. Dr. Marik believes that egg donation will become as common as sperm donation in the coming years. "Sometime in the future during any abdominal surgery of a woman in the reproductive age bracket the surgeon will examine the ovaries of the patient to see if a ripe follicle is present. At the time, if the woman agreed, the egg will be removed and cryopreserved for the purpose of donation to an infertile woman," said Dr. Marik. "There are many opportunities that go by because women and their gynecologist aren't familiar with the concept of egg donation during unrelated surgeries."

Unlike surrogate pregnancy when a woman gives away the baby she carried for another couple, a woman who donates an egg is not likely to have the same attachment. Furthermore, there are no contractual arrangements between the donor and the infertile couple and no money is exchanged. However, the baby that is born of this donation does carry half the donor's genetic heritage. "One of the first people I told was my mother," said Linda, "and she had mixed emotions about it. My husband has been very supportive - when I told him I wanted to donate an egg to a couple Dr. Marik told me about, he said 'I think that's beautiful'." Many of Linda's friends have also expressed their support of her donation.

When Linda had a simple laparoscopy for abdominal pain, she agreed beforehand to donate any eggs that were found. She took medication for five days prior to her procedure which stimulated the growth of the follicle. Dr. Marik was able to extract three healthy mature oocytes.

Linda donated these eggs to an infertile couple who had been trying to conceive for six years. The woman's ovaries were extremely small, and she didn't ovulate. With Linda's help, she became pregnant on the first try.

Linda has written this couple an encouraging letter telling them that she knows what it's like to be infertile, and has enclosed pictures of her little girls, Ginger and Katie. Says Linda of the egg donation program, "I think it's wonderful for women to help each other. After all, if there's a woman who needs eggs, mine were going to waste each month, why shouldn't I donate them? I love being a mother - it's given me more pleasure than I could ever imagine - and I would like other infertile women to know that this program could help them too." Linda believes that there are many potential donors who would agree to donate eggs if they knew how easy it was to do "something charitable" for an infertile couple.