IVF failure for ‘devastated’ couple who spent five months in self-imposed lockdown for fear Covid would impair fertility

A couple who spent the past five months in self-imposed quarantine as they were afraid catching Covid would scupper their chances of starting a family after a decade trying for children have received the “devastating” news a last-chance round of IVF through the NHS was unsuccessful.

Hannah Bradley, 41, and her husband James, 46, from Livingston, Scotland, decided to go back into lockdown in April after finding out that they had secured a free round of IVF treatment through the NHS and being diagnosed with “unexplained infertility”.

Hannah, who suffers from asthma, was told she could not be placed under conscious sedation and have her eggs removed if she caught Covid beforehand and the pair were also concerned that it could have a negative impact on the quality of James’ sperm.

So the couple, who started trying for kids 12 years ago, started ordering their food shopping online and only walking their two dogs, Bert and Trixie, when nobody else was around.

Last week, on September 19, the couple received the “devastating” news that the procedure had not worked – and no sooner had James returned to the office than he caught Covid.

They are now looking to raise £15,000 by February on GoFundMe to pay for private treatment, at which point Hannah will be considered too old for the treatment.

“We just did what we were doing during lockdown,” she told PA Real Life.

“You know, we only went out if we absolutely had to.

“Once we knew what IVF cycle we had been put in, we just cut everything out.

“We haven’t been able to see any of our friends or family since April.”

James, who works as a manager for an international audiovisual IT firm, started working from home full-time and cancelled all his business trips abroad.

“We were almost behaving like we were in lockdown,” said James.

“The last time we were in lockdown, I think everybody experienced some form of isolation, anxiety and everything else that goes with it.

“But when you go through it a second time and you know that the rest of the world is going about their business in a normal way and you’re watching life going on outside – it’s really weird.”

Hannah and James met on a blind date 14 years ago courtesy of her best friend and James’ sister-in-law.

“We are the blind date that worked,” she said.

It quickly became clear that they both wanted to have children in the near future.

“We absolutely knew that we both wanted to have children,” she added.

“So, when we moved into together, a couple of years down the line, we decided to start trying to have a baby.”

Hannah kept thinking “it’s going to happen” but when four years passed and there was still no sign of a baby on the horizon, she began to ask questions.

“I was probably a bit naive and didn’t think you could just go to see the doctor.

“It took my best friend to say, ‘You need to go’.

“We were both still relatively young at that point, so we didn’t think there was going to be an issue.”

Hannah and James, who were living in Falkirk at the time, went to see a doctor in 2015 and were referred to the fertility team at The Forth Valley Royal Hospital.

“They did the usual, internal scans, blood tests, semen analysis and all of that,” she said.

Doctors could not see up one of Hannah’s fallopian tubes, but further tests revealed everything to be normal.

“We were just told, it’s unexplained infertility,” she said.

“They just don’t know.”

Hannah was advised to apply for IVF, but told that she would need to lose weight first.

“I was above the BMI threshold which is currently 30,” she said.

“I was obviously overweight and so, I spent a long time doing faddie diet after faddie diet.

“It just wasn’t coming off at all.”

Despite fasting, calorie counting and cutting out carbs, Hannah was not losing weight fast enough.

This was partly due to her fibromyalgia, a condition which causes pain all over the body and fatigue, which made any form of exercise difficult.

She had all but given up on IVF, when in 2021, she was prescribed with fat binders, a type of medication designed to stop the body from storing fat.

“We really went uber healthy – switching things like bread and pasta for bulgur wheat and quinoa,” she said.

“Within a couple of months, I had lost about a stone.

“In total, I’ve shifted four stone in the past two years.”

Hannah was placed on the wait-list for IVF in July 2022 and told that it would take around eight months.

But it was not until April this year that James and Hannah were added to the “June cycle”, starting on her birthday.

Doctors warned that because Hannah also has asthma they would not be able to put her under conscious sedation were she to catch Covid in the meantime.

They were also concerned about the impact Covid might have on James’ sperm quality given there have been a number of studies suggesting that it could lower the concentration.

“I did online food shops and only went out to buy things that were missing from the delivery [essentials],” she said.

“We would only walk our two dogs when we knew that it was going to be quiet.

“There was no going to the hairdressers or even just going into Edinburgh for a mooch.”

The couple’s lockdown measures worked but Hannah’s egg collection appointment [July, 2023] was delayed due to an “impending junior doctor strike”.

This actually helped, as it gave more time for Hannah’s follicle, the small sack of fluid which contains developing eggs, to grow.

“We were devastated, of course we were, but we were just grateful that we were given another try,” she said.

The couple returned in August and this time, the process went off without a hitch.

Hannah had one “healthy egg” and received a phone call the next day to say they had “a good quality embryo”.

“We couldn’t believe it, because there are women who have like 18 to 24 eggs, of which five become embryos and only one is good quality,” she said.

“So we had beaten the odds again.”

A few days later, on August 30, the embryo was transferred into Hannah’s womb. But unfortunately, it did not implant, and a blood test later confirmed that the process had not worked.

“We were devastated to put it mildly,” she said.

Given Hannah’s age, the couple cannot reapply for IVF on the NHS and are therefore looking into going private.

“You’re kind of educated in school not to go near each other because you might get pregnant – it takes one kiss and a baby pops out,” said James.

“But it’s not the reality of the situation, it’s more like trying to dock a shuttle onto a space station.

“It’s like a precision procedure”.

Going back into lockdown has taken a heavy toll on the couple, but they do not regret it and will do it again if it means there is a chance of becoming parents.

“To begin with, you’re just like ‘Oh here we go again.

“But then, as time goes on, and particularly over the summer period, when you start to have barbecues and things like that.

“That’s when you realise and ‘four wall syndrome’ starts to set in a bit.

“Everyone suffered during lockdown, but for us the bigger picture was the chance of having a baby”.

The couple have launched a fundraiser on GoFundMe after being quoted around £15,000 for another round given Hannah’s health condition.

“I think we were a bit naive to be honest, because we thought that this was going to be our miracle and that one round would be enough,” Hannah said.

“The level of support that we have had from friends and total strangers has been phenomenal.

“It has really boosted us because we really were alone and isolated again.”

The couple’s fundraiser can be found at: www.gofundme.com/f/magic-bean-miracle