Only Fans star Rhian Sugden has shared an emotional insight into life as an 'IVF warrior' on Mother's Day. Bury-born Rhian, 36, posted a tearful photo of herself with a candid Instagram post.
"The reality of Mother's Day to an IVF warrior," she wrote with the picture showing the lingerie model in tears as she rested in bed. And she added: "It's hard."
Rhian, who has been undergoing In Vitro Fertilisation with her husband former Coronation Street star Oliver Mellor, said in 2020 that getting a puppy, a cavapoochon called Roger, had helped to console her after the heartbreak of two failed IVF attempts.
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Rhian and Oliver, 42, who played Dr Matt Carter in Corrie, found out just before Christmas 2019 that their second round of treatment in November had failed. Tests revealed she has the 'egg count of a woman over 45' and was in the stage of perimenopause - the time during which the body makes the transition to menopause marking the end of the reproductive years.
Rhian, the longest-standing Page 3 model, was also told she has only a three per cent chance of getting pregnant by IVF. In May 2020 she said their baby plans were on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic, but the couple were determined to continue for their third round and refusing to give up hope of having the baby they long for.
Last summer, after their fourth round, she spoke about her IVF and fertility journey on the Stompcast podcast with mental health ambassador Dr Alex George during a walk around Turton and Entwistle Reservoir in Edgworth near Bolton. She explained: "We've had four rounds so far and it's a hell of a slog. At the end of last year I did say after the last round 'I can't do it again.'"
She told Dr Alex: "It's so hard. Why is having babies so hard? When you grow up you spend all this time trying not to get pregnant.
"On paper that's what it is - marriage, babies and you live happily ever after. So I don't know whether I was conditioned into thinking that's what I need.
"Now I'm kind of thinking 'is that what I want?' because I have a very good life without children. But as soon as I was told I might not be able to have them I was like 'I need it now.'"
She explained about their journey: "We were trying for two or three years and it just wasn't happening. He was on anti-depressants at the time so I thought 'oh it must be him.'
"We went for some checks and it turned ut it was me with the problem and he was absolutely fine. I've only got one functioning ovary which automatically halves my egg pool. And they said because of my age, which I don't even think I'm that old, but I think at 35 you're classed as a geriatric."
Explaining the IVF process, she recalled how she had hormone injections to stimulate egg growth. "They put you to sleep, extract eggs, fertilise them and pop them back in," she said. "On our postcode we got one free round on the NHS but people up the road from me get three. It's a postcode lottery."
Reflecting on the toll it has taken mentally as well as physically, Rhian said: "It's exhausting. Every time they've gone in for eggs they've only got one and it's fertilised and been a grade A egg. It's been perfect."
But sadly she explained that so far the treatment hadn't worked for them. "There's no rhyme or reason, it's just one of those things," she said.
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