“Another hurdle on our way of having baby Reid”
Alex and Nicola, our patients and members of the HSFC family, started their fertility journey with us in December 2019 by opting for IVF fertility treatment. Unfortunately, Covid-19 and the lockdown caused a delay in their treatment.
Here is a brief update on their journey so far and an excerpt from a short interview we had with Alex and Nicola.
In March 2020, Alex and Nicola were to start their IVF cycle. As a part of the preimplantation genetic testing before the embryo transfer, their embryos were tested for chromosomal abnormalities and 4 were determined to have the right number of chromosomes, i.e. they did not have any abnormalities and the results came out as normal (referred to as being euploid). Dr Venkat then advised Nicola to be tested for various immunological factors, including thrombophilia screening, auto-antibodies, elevated Natural Killer Cell activity and abnormal cytokine ratios. These test results did have some difficult news for the couple.
“Well… we’ve just spoken with Dr Venkat at the Harley Street Fertility Clinic. It’s good news and bad news,” starts Alex. “We know Nicola has the Natural Killer Cells that stop baby Reid from forming. After having the results of the tests, Nicola was going to have an intravenous drip that was going to help these killer cells attack baby Reid. The trouble is, they suppress your immune system.”
Because of Covid-19, HFEA advised fertility clinics to not offer immune-suppressant treatments to patients because they would be more susceptible to catch the disease. This meant Alex and Nicola could not go ahead with the treatment. But this is but a small pause in their journey, and they can resume the necessary treatments when the time is right.
Until then, Alex and Nicola are taking all the necessary precautions and care to make sure they stay safe. Given the nature of their work, with Alex and Nicola running a boot camp, they constantly come in touch with multiple people which can put them at risk of catching the virus. They are now planning to take extra measures such as wearing a visor or staying adequately away from people, to make sure they are safe, as advised by Dr.Venkat.
We understand how stressful this situation must be for the couple who has gone through 5 miscarriages and have been eagerly awaiting their IVF treatment to resume.
Not letting these setbacks affect them, Alex continues to stay positive and remain the optimist Alex signs off with a message, “Baby Reid is coming, folks, stay tuned!”
We are sending them both a virtual hug from everyone at HSFC.
We will keep you informed on Alex and Nicola’s fertility journey.
