We asked you to get behind our first ever NationalInfertility Awareness Week – and you did – in yourthousands!

The response was amazing - you pulled out all thestops and made it a week to remember. We have so farraised over £10,000 which is an incredible amount insuch a short time.

It went so well that we are making this an annualevent, so save the dates for the next one now:

27th October – 2nd November 2014

It’s YOUR week so make sureyou save the dates now andstart thinking about how YOUcan get involved next time.

Because we can’t do itwithout your support.

Great Cake Bake ChallengeThe clinics did us proud. There are simply too

many to mention by name, but everyone who took upour Great Cake Bake Challenge got involved and didtheir bit. We had bake-offs galore and cake sales,creating some amazing cakes along the way.

CRM CARE, London: the EmbryoChallengeCRM CARE London pledged their support bydonating £5 for each embryo created in theirnew laboratory during awareness week.

Mr Robert Forman, medical director, said:“National Infertility Awareness Week helped us all tofocus on the issues facing couples who simply want tohave a child. Our embryologists are supporting thecause and every embryo created in our new laboratoryduring this special week generated a £5 donation to I N UK.”We love this initiative and would like more clinicsto adopt the Embryo Challenge in 2014.

Corporates and OrganisationsOur corporate partners all got behind the awarenessweek, right across the globe. Auxogyn had a Halloweencake bake in California and Merck Serono had anAfternoon Tea at their head office in London.

Ferring Pharmaceutical reps wore National InfertilityAwareness Week polo shirts during their working weekand in Scotland their rep Alan Doyle, together with thestaff at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, had a cake bake.

Many other organisations held fundraisers for us,including Lewis Fertility Testing who held a Tea on theTerrace in Belfast, and all we can say is another hugethank you to everyone who supported us.

Baking for Baby ChallengeClare Bremner gathered over 100 cake bakers andsuppliers for a Baking for Baby challenge which gave usa huge boost.

Great Cake Bake Cake BookWe have put the gorgeous cakes together in a virtualcake book you can see on our Facebook page:http://www.solourl.com/379

14 I N UK Winter 2014

Our Great CakeBake Winner!Congratulations to Deborah Sloan, Infertility Counsellor for The Agora Clinic, Brighton & Hove,who is the winner of our Great Cake Bake competition and wins spa vouchers kindly donated byspabreaks.com - well done Deborah, and of course well done and thank you to everyone whosupported the Great Cake Bake!Don’t forget – you can see all the cakes in our Great Cake Bake Cake Book at:http://www.solourl.com/379

National Infertility

Glasgow Royal Infirmary

Thank You : £10,000

Olympian Sharron Davies and author KittyDimbleby both stepped up, spoke out and helpedgenerate publicity for us – brilliant!

Sharron spoke abouther own ‘private hell’ ofinfertility:

“It’s a private hell formost of us who want tostart a family and can’t!It’s not something you canchat about like you do acold or a broken arm, sopeople often suffer insilence which makes iteven harder to deal with. I believe it’s no different, if‘those parts’ don’t work, than any other part of ourbodies, so why shouldn’t someone be entitled to helpto fix them?

“But it’s a hard battle with huge emotional con -sequences either way and often not really understoodfully unless you have gone through it. I have and Iwouldn’t wish it on anyone. But there are someamazing organisations out there that offer help tomake dealing with it just a little bit easier.” Sharron Davies

Kitty Dimbleby was born with a condition calledHirschsprung’s Disease, which resulted in years of illhealth and many operations. She wastold just aged 16 that she may neverhave children. Now after IVFtreatment, she is the mother to ayear old little girl, Chloe.

She says: “Only womenwho have been throughinfertility can really under -stand the loss you feel eachmonth when your periodcomes, the physical pain oflonging when you see a smallbaby and the guilt asfriends tell you their goodnews. All you can thinkis, ‘I want it to be me.’

Those who see IVF as aluxury have never exper i -enced the pain of not beingable to have a child, in mycase by far the worst sideeffect of my poor health.”Kitty Dimbleby

What the media said:We made headlines across thecountry, from the Herald to theHuffington Post; we werefeatured on ‘Loose Women’ and‘This Morning’ and many regionalsand radio programmes.

This Morning: As part of NationalIn fertility Awareness Week, ‘ThisMorning’ is talking to couples who havestruggled to conceive. Today we meet Anna andThom Jones, who after two-and-a-half years oftrying for a baby, have had no luck.

ITV: Today marks the start of National InfertilityAwareness Week which looks to highlight the strugglesof couples trying to conceive across our region.

Huffington Post UK: For National Infertility Aware -ness Week (28 October – 3 November 2013), we’vepulled together a series of videos to discuss causes,symptoms and possible options.

Manchester Evening News: As National InfertilityAwareness Week approaches, one woman talksfrankly to Lisa Salmon about the heartache andeventual joy of her IVF experience.

Awareness Week

Winter 2014 I N UK 15

and counting!