Family album of the lives changed by fertility treatment

It tells him how the family are doing and lets him know of any big events that coming up in the next 12 months. It’s the kind of letter people send to friends and relatives all the time, but for Mr Shaker it’s extra special.

“She was one of my very first patients when I started working in IVF,” he says. “Through the treatment she received at the hospital in Glasgow where I started out, she was able to start a family. Her sons are now grown-up, but she still keeps in touch and every year I look forward to her letter.”

Mr Shaker has been working in the field of fertility for 21 years. He moved to the CARE Fertility Sheffield in 2002 and, as the clinic approaches its 25th anniversary, he’s helping to track down former patients who have passed through its doors over the last decade and a half.

“When the clinic first opened it didn’t offer IVF, but specialised in other fertility treatments. For the last 25 years it has been helping people make babies and it’s a landmark that we are all keen to mark.”

The clinic is planning to hold an exhibition dedicated to IVF at the city’s Millennium Gallery in October and is asking former patients to donate one special item belonging to their baby.

“Since CARE opened in Sheffield, 3,000 babies have been born and it’s now one of the most successful clinics in the country,” says exhibition organiser Wanda Georgiades. “We held a similar exhibition in Nottingham last year and had a fantastic response. People sent in everything from baby vests to skateboards, karate medals and school reports and it made for a really moving exhibition.

“We want to do the same thing in Sheffield, with the mementoes hung on washing lines alongside messages from those who have been on the sometimes painful journey through infertility.”

The exhibition will also be a chance to reflect on how far fertility treatment and IVF has come in the last 25 years.

“As doctors we are always moving forward and we don’t often have the time to look back, but when you do it’s incredible,” says Mr Shaker, consultant gynaecologist and medical director at the Sheffield clinic. “When I started out the success rate for IVF treatment was between 20 to 25 per cent and the procedure was incredibly complex. Blood tests had to be carried out every day and the injections the patient required had to be administered at the clinic.

“IVF is always going to be stressful, but the whole process has been simplified. Advances in scanning techniques means daily blood tests are no longer required, the medication is released through small implants under the skin and most importantly of all the success rate has increased.

“In Sheffield in 2009, 40 per cent of IVF patients successfully became pregnant and while that dipped a little last year to 38 per cent, the general trend is still increasing.”

The issue of IVF normally only finds itself in the headlines when patients denied treatment on the NHS are complaining of a postcode lottery or when women of a certain age decided to conceive using the treatment.

It’s an area that for some will always be controversial, but as Mr Shaker looks forward to the future of fertility treatment, the exhibition in Sheffield later this year will be a chance to celebrate its many success stories.

“When I started out on my medical career I never planned on working in IVF,” he says. “I was looking for a research job, applied for one in Glasgow connected to fertility, got it and never looked back.

“Quite quickly I knew that I could never do anything else. It’s hard to believe that in the next 25 years we will make the same kind of advances as we have in the last quarter of a century, but I honestly believe we will. Research is going on all the time which will help people desperate to start a family the very best chance of realising their dreams. As with any field of medicine there will always be ethical questions to answer and that’s as it should be, but IVF is something we all should be proud of.

“Every day I see just how much it means to people and this exhibition will be a chance for everyone else to see that too.”

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If you would like to contribute to the display, please contact Wanda by email at [email protected] or on 0115 8528163. All items in the exhibition will be catalogued and returned.