Hope Restored

Hope restored for couple going through fertility struggles.

My husband, Shaun, and I attempted natural conception for two frustrating years, coping with the stress, disappointment and feelings of inadequacy that inevitably set in.

I endured endless, invasive tests – on one occasion contracting an infection that hospitalised me for two days – until we were advised that our problem lay in my husband’s low sperm count.

When in the hands of medical practitioners it is only natural to accept everything they say, yet these ‘experts’ never once asked the question – why is Mr. Cannon’s sperm count so low?  We then embarked upon a course of IVF treatment, which we subsequently discovered was doomed to fail.

It did and we were devastated.

The ‘experts’ showed sympathy and suggested we try again at a later date. As if we were taking a driving test!

Rather than throw money at the problem we undertook some research, which fortunately led us to the surgery of Claire Mooney. Claire convinced us that there were many reasons to be optimistic and the answer lay in discovering the cause of the low sperm count.

Claire and Mr. Ramsey carried out several simple tests and discovered that Shaun was suffering from low testosterone and a rare but treatable infection. After a course of medication he will, hopefully, be back to normal and we should look forward to a natural conception and avoid the necessity for expensive IVF.

Unfortunately the NHS does not prioritise fertility problems – particularly in males. And had we known before our IVF treatment what we have learned since, we would have rejected it and invested the comparatively small amount of money in discovering why Shaun’s sperm count was so low. However, it’s only natural to accept the treatment on offer from the NHS.

We feel very fortunate to have discovered Claire and Mr. Ramsey. Not only have they diagnosed our problem but they have given us hope and restored our faith in the medical profession.

Lucy & Shaun Cannon.