Every case is different. It usually takes about 2 to 3 months from being chosen to donating.

• 4 to 5 doctor’s appointments over 2 to 3 weeks for medical and psychological screening
• A few weeks to align your cycle with your recipient’s
• One full day on donation day

We can arrange a sick leave letter if you need one.

After you apply and complete your detailed profile, we review it. If you qualify, you appear on our secure donor database with a donor number, never your name.

Recipients see your basic physical features, age, relevant medical and family history plus a baby photo of you. If someone chooses you, we ask you first. You decide whether you would like to donate for them.

No. Recipients must register and log in to our secure database. Only your baby photos appear. Your name and contact details are never shown.

No. South African law requires egg donation to be anonymous.

From day 3 or 4 of your cycle you start hormone injections, sometimes with tablets. They are fine needles that go just under the skin into the fat layer, not the muscle, similar to an insulin pen. Our founder has done them herself during her own IVF. They really aren’t bad.

Your fertility specialist decides on your exact medication after your consultation. A scan around day 8 checks how your follicles are growing. You continue daily until the follicles reach about 18 mm, usually between 5 and 10 of them, sometimes more.

A final trigger injection is given 36 hours before retrieval to mature the eggs. We send you a simple step-by-step guide to your schedule.

No. There is no cutting. Your eggs are collected vaginally with a fine needle guided by ultrasound. You are sedated for about 20 minutes, so you won’t feel the procedure.

You are cared for by a fertility doctor at a leading clinic, and our donor support is with you throughout. Take the afternoon off afterwards, as the sedation can leave you drowsy.

Yes, but be careful. From the start of stimulation until your next period (about 4 weeks) you are highly fertile. Use a non-hormonal method such as condoms, or abstain, to avoid falling pregnant.

Egg donation is a medical procedure, and every medical procedure carries some risk. The main one is Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS), where the ovaries over-respond to the medication. It is uncommon.

That’s why you have regular scans. Your doctor can spot any over-response early and adjust your medication. If OHSS does occur, it usually settles within a couple of weeks. We work only with leading fertility clinics that monitor donors closely.

Some donors have none at all. Others notice mild PMS-type symptoms such as breast tenderness, bloating, headaches or mood swings from the hormones.

As with any procedure there is a very small chance of infection or a reaction to the sedation or medication. An antibiotic is routinely given at retrieval. Bleeding is usually minimal. You may feel a little bloated and uncomfortable for a few days afterwards.

You are born with about two million eggs. By puberty around 300 000 remain. Every month a group of eggs starts to develop, but usually only one matures. The rest are lost with your period.

Fertility medication simply helps more of that month’s group to mature, usually around 10. You are not using up eggs you would otherwise have kept.

There is no evidence that egg donation causes infertility, and the medication has no proven long-term effects. Many donors donate several times and then go on to have children. Others have their children first and donate afterwards.

Yes. Many of our donors do. A donor may not have more than 5 ongoing pregnancies from her donations, and the clinics keep records of every donation. You need at least one normal cycle and period before donating again.

Donors receive between R8 000 and R10 000 per donation cycle.

This is not payment for your eggs. Your eggs are a gift. It compensates you for your time, effort and discomfort.

The fertility clinic pays you within 2 to 3 days after you donate.

The recipients pay all medical costs related to your donation. You pay nothing.

Yes. It is fully legal under the National Health Act, 2003, and its Regulations relating to Artificial Fertilisation of Persons.

Women and couples who cannot conceive with their own eggs. Reasons include premature ovarian failure, early menopause, age-related decline in egg quality, absent ovaries, endometriosis, repeated IVF failure or pregnancy loss, genetic conditions they don’t want to pass on and the effects of cancer treatment.

A young, healthy donor greatly improves a recipient’s chance of pregnancy. Generally, the younger the eggs, the better the chance.

The clinic tries to fertilise all the eggs you donate. Not all will fertilise. Those that do become embryos and grow for a few days before one, or sometimes two, are transferred. Any good-quality extra embryos are frozen for the family.

You get our professionalism, guidance and real care for your wellbeing, during and after donation. We work with top fertility clinics across South Africa, so you may be offered the chance to travel to donate. We also attract many international recipients, which means more chances of being chosen.

Our founder has been through infertility herself. We appreciate the gift of a donor more than you know.