As I turn out the lights, and close the door on our
second National Fertility Awareness Week, I am once
again quite astounded by the response we have received.
The main aim of this week is to increase awareness of
fertility issues. Perhaps I should clarify this; we want to make
people aware of the terrible suffering caused by the struggle to have
a family. We want others to understand the grief, hurt and pure injustice of not
being able to conceive. So many people have simply no idea just how painful this
experience can be, something which should be natural.. our right … and well,
easy. In addition to this we want to remind people about the facts, and the truths
about fertility. We want all women to have all the information available so they
can make choices based upon simple facts. Is it harder to conceive as you get
older – yes, sadly it is.
During National Fertility Awareness Week we believe we made huge strides
into achieving these two goals. Our Facebook and Twitter pages saw an
unprecedented increase, with us ‘reaching’ 600% more people than on other
weeks.
On Twitter we had so many people who joined in and used our #NFAWUK,
and helped spread the message far and wide. Individuals, businesses,
corporations and clinics all ‘tweeted’ about the week and quite a buzz started.
On Facebook, again, everyone contributed brilliantly. Particularly our Great
Cake Bake, which was another tremendous success. Firstly, we cannot begin to
express how grateful we are to everyone who participates each year, giving up
their time, and their money, to bake for us. The events all looked like great fun
and some of the cakes were quite simply stunning! We love receiving your
photos, so please do always send us images from events you have had. It’s a
bizarre thing to see so many cakes made to look like sperm and eggs, plus they
still looked delicious?!
Follow this link and take a look at a few of the creations from this year:
www.nfaw.org.uk/cakes/index.html
We also had our Embryo Challenge. This was simply
where we asked clinics if they would like to take up
our challenge, and donate £5 for every embryo
fertilized during the week. What a truly wonderful
way to raise money for charity by creating
families! I would personally like to take this
opportunity on behalf of everyone here at
Infertility Network UK, and thank each and
every clinic for taking part, its an incredibly
generous thing to do and very much
appreciated.
What a
12 I N UK Winter 2014 - 2015

Winter 2014 - 2015 I N UK 13
The following clinics took part in our Embryo
Challenge:
● Complete Fertility Centre Southampton
● CRM CARE London
● Herts & Essex Fertility Centre
● Newlife Clinic
● Lister Clinic
● Wessex Fertility
● Zita West Clinic
● Bath Fertility Centre
● Bristol Centre for Reproductive Medicine
● CARE Nottingham
● CARE Sheffield
● Centre for Reproductive Medicine and
Fertility, Sheffield /Jessop
● Hull IVF Unit
● Reproductive Health Group
● GCRM Belfast
● Origin Fertility Centre, Northern Ireland
● Hope Fertility, Glasgow (Nuffield Health)
● Spire Healthcare, IVF Scotland
● Clinica Eugin, Spain
On top of this we were joined by so many members
of the wider fertility community. We called this
section ‘Helping Hands’ and it was supported
by a vast range of alternative therapies and
counselling services. It was great to see so
many different people coming together to
make the week a success.
So now, it’s probably time to start
planning for next year! Our third National
Fertility Awareness Week will begin on
Monday 2nd November and finish with The
Fertility Show on Saturday 7th and Sunday
8th November 2015.
And remember, this isn’t our week, it’s yours …
Kara Myhill
NFAW Campaign Manager
Success!