Hi everyone

Our names are Joanne and Chris and we have been together for 10 years, married for six and have dreamt about having a baby from the beginning of our relationship. When we couldn‘t conceive naturally we tried IVF 5 times. We got pregnant on our 4th attempt and were over the moon. Only to be devastated a few weeks later when we had an early miscarriage. It took us several months to recover enough to decide whether to try IVF again. We couldn‘t give up on our dream and so we had one last try using the remainder of our savings. Unfortunately it was unsuccessful.

Another few months went by and we felt so empty inside at the thought of never having a family of our own. So we started to research into surrogacy and decided that it would be the next step for us in our quest to have a child. A few weeks ago we visited the fertility show in Manchester to see if we could find out more information about how to find a surrogate to help us.

We couldn‘t believe our luck when we met a lady at the Surroagacy UK stand. She told us that she has been a surrogate 4 times and has 3 children of her own too!

We asked her lots of questions about what is involved and she was so welcoming and inspirational to talk to. She told us that she didn‘t feel like she was giving her baby away but that she would be giving it back to us. That made us both cry and we knew at that moment this was the right choice for us.

The money raised will pay for the surrogates expenses which include childcare, loss of earnings and any medical expenses. They are not paid for being a surrogate in the UK.