A YOUNG woman who was once told she wouldn’t be able to have children due to fertility issues has given birth to her second child at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.

Sarah Igo, a writer from Arnside, and her husband Karl have now two children – daughter Dillon and baby boy Indie – thanks to Sarah’s sister, who donated her eggs, enabling IVF treatment to take place.

At 14 years old, Sarah was told that having children would not be possible for her and it sent her into a downward spiral of depression and anxiety.

Sarah said: "I was in my early teens and, unlike most of my friends, I hadn't started my periods. 

"I just thought I was a bit slow, but to my horror, a scan showed that I didn’t have any ovaries. They said: 'You are not going to have any babies'. I can still hear the woman’s voice – that has never left me.

However, what Sarah had been told in her early teens wasn’t strictly true, as she did have a uterus.

Sarah said: "I went to Manchester St Mary’s Hospital, and they told me I could try for a baby with a donor’s egg. This was an incredible thing for me to hear after thinking I was never going to be able to have children.

"I had met my husband Karl, and we knew that we wanted to have children, so we started thinking about how we could make it happen."

Sarah’s younger sister, Beth Gillies, then made an offer to Sarah and Karl.

Sarah said: "She offered to donate her eggs to us – it was incredible! 

"It was an overwhelmingly joyful experience when the pregnancy test was positive. I didn’t expect the IVF to work at all. From 16 eggs taken, only two developed to a day five blastocyst. The first attempt didn’t work, so when the second one did, it was a shock.

The second time around with IVF, Sarah and Karl decided to opt for an anonymous donor.

"We are so lucky that this has been possible on the NHS," said Sarah.

"We’re also very grateful to the anonymous donor who just wanted to help."

Sarah was so moved by the experience of having her first daughter that she wrote a children's book on the subject called Hetty the Hen Who Couldn't Lay.

The book is about a hen who wants a chick and needs the help of another hen to have one.

"Dillon can read now and it’s wonderful to hear her reading Hetty and chuckling at the pictures of the hens," said Sarah.

"She once said to me: 'You don't have eggs - like Hetty', which is exactly what I wanted from this story – for it to act as a prompt for Dillon and I to explore her own origins. Everything is out in the open."