The mum of "miracle twins" conceived using donated eggs and sperm has urged women they can still have their dream babies if they cannot afford IVF.

Clair McGlynn decided to have a baby on her own using the treatment as part of an egg sharing scheme which can help women save money.

The scheme, which is under investigation along with the Herts and Essex Fertility Centre in Cheshunt following a sting by the Daily Mail, offers women who cannot afford IVF the chance to get money off treatment in exchange for donating eggs to other women.

But Clair, who lives in Cheshunt, said it was the only way many poorer women could afford IVF treatment, which can cost tens of thousand of pounds, and that it was "unfair" the NHS would only fund IVF for couples.

"I just want to get the message out there to women to say you have this option," said the 39-year-old, whose twins Hope and Faith are aged 21 months.

"Don't give up your dream. If people think they can't afford this treatment, there is an option in sharing your eggs, helping other women and becoming a mum yourself."

READ MORE: Family's Mexico holiday turns into 'living nightmare' after son falls seriously ill

She added: "I couldn't get help on the NHS because I wasn't in a fertility couple. I didn't fit the criteria because I wasn't in a relationship.

"It's really unfair that single women can't go through the NHS."

Clair, who runs a make up and beauty business in Cheshunt, had been with a partner for 14 years who was infertile, so believed she was able to have children.

But after splitting up with him and deciding to become a mum on her own, with the aim of using the egg sharing scheme at the HErts and Essex Fertility Centre, Clair was shocked to discover she could not share eggs as she was also infertile.

So instead she sold her house and stumped up the 12,000 for a round of IVF. She was paired with an egg donor who was part of the sharing scheme run by the Herts and Essex Fertility Centre.

Incredibly, it worked first time.

She said: "I didn't have to do anything myself, I just took some tablets and then there were two really healthy embryos and it was twins.

"This was my one and only chance of having kids and I was only ever going to do it once.

"Everything just went so swimmingly perfect for me. Two weeks later I had a pregnancy test and after seven weeks they told me it was twins.

"Without this scheme it wouldn't have happened. If it hadn't worked for me first time I would have lost the 12,000 and had nothing."

READ MORE: Cheshunt fertility clinic under investigation for 'paying poor women to donate their eggs for IVF'

She added: "It's challenging, my children have no father figure but I have my dad who is a brilliant granddad, and I have male friends who are brilliant with the girls.

"I'm quite a sociable person and the girls are quite famous in the area."

The Herts and Essex Fertility Centre is under investigation by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.

The investigation follows an undercover sting by the Daily Mail in which it claims reporters were offered financial incentives for donating eggs - which can be illegal.

The reporters, who posed as prospective parents, also claimed they were pressurised to enter the scheme and not offered sufficient counselling.

But Clair said she had never been put under pressure by anyone at the clinic.

"There's no kind of pressure at all," she said. "They just took me through the options and got counselling for me.

"You don't get the counselling at the Herts and Essex, they send you somewhere else and they talk to you about how you would feel about it.

"Obviously the eggs aren't genetically yours but they still grew from my blood supply.

"In terms of counselling they weren't telling me to leave. I'm quite a strong woman anyway but if you were more vulnerable they would offer you more counselling.

"If one session wasn't enough I don't think they would just say goodbye."

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority investigation is continuing.

Excerpt from:
Cheshunt woman who had twins with donated sperm and eggs urges wannabe mums not to 'give up dream' - Hertfordshire Mercury