Meet miracle baby Louisa (From St Helens Star)

Meet miracle baby Louisa

11:03am Thursday 7th July 2011 in News By Kelsey Pilkington

FOR years, Claire Glover and her partner tried to have a baby. After a string of unsuccessful treatments and heartbreaking miscarriages, she was at her wit’s end – until a pioneering treatment at a Care UK hospital in Manchester gave her the daughter she’d always prayed for.

Claire, 38, had spent ages trying IVF cycles and frozen embryo cycles. She had three treatments in total but none of them worked.

“It was horrible not being able to conceive – soul-destroying,” said Claire, who lives in Rainford. “Seeing people who were pregnant or with their kids made it even worse.

“We had to consider our finances. We didn’t give up, but because of money eventually we’d have had to.”

Because Claire’s partner John, 47, already had two grown-up sons,the NHS was unwilling to help them with IVF treatments. All money spent had to come out of their own pocket.

All in all, they spent £17,000 on treatments and tests, beginning with the usual hormone test that proved Claire was ovulating. Their first IVF cycle was unsuccessful. The second produced twins, who sadly died at only nine weeks.

The third cycle saw two frozen embryos implanted. This cycle also failed to come to fruition, but an unexpected side-effect shed some light on what might have been the issue. During the pregnancy, Claire became ill and developed a rash, but also had a history of thyroid problems relating to an overactive immune system.

“We’d been researching it a lot ourselves – after reading a book called ‘Is Your Body Baby Friendly?’ I realised what could be going on - that it could have been my immune system.”

Doctors at Care UK had reached the same conclusion. Claire and John both provided blood samples which were sent to a specialist facility in Chicago, where their suspicions were confirmed.

Claire suffered from raised killer cells which attacked her embryos. Both had the gene DQ Alpha which meant some embryos would be genetically faulty.

Hope came in the form of intralipids – an experimental treatment where a specially manufactured infusion of soya and egg protein would be delivered via a drip to manage Claire’s immune system and encourage embryo implantation.

The treatment gave Claire a 3/1 chance of conception, rather than the 14/1 she’d had previously.

“I was relieved to know the cause of the problem but at the same time there was no guarantee of pregnancy,” said Claire. “I was just glad to know how much chance I had and how much we’d need to fund it.”

Though one frozen embryo remained from their third cycle, doctors urged Claire and John to undergo a fresh cycle alongside the intralipids treatment to maximise their chances, which would have cost £7,000.

When Claire started considering taking out a loan to cover it, John pushed for that last embryo, believing it had survived for a reason. That last embryo would be born as Louisa, the happy ending to their four-year ordeal. She is one of the first babies to be born in the region by this treatment.

“It’s important to keep digging,” Claire advised. “Research and look into it. There are hundreds who give up when they could have a chance.”

• LOUISA tipped the scales at 8lbs 12 oz when she was born on May 6. At eight weeks, she now weighs in at at a bonny 12lbs and 5oz and is, in mum’s words, ‘absolutely perfect’. Claire is a police officer and John pilots the air ambulance based at Blackpool.