IVF parents in 25-year battle celebrate twins

Danielle Dwyer

A couple who spent 25 years and more than £100,000 (€110,000) trying to conceive are celebrating after the birth of twins.

Neil Ward (56) and his Monique (46) embarked on the lengthy and expensive quest to conceive after doctors told them in 1985 that they could not have children naturally due to Mr Ward's low sperm count.

The couple, from Stafford, underwent a series of unsuccessful IVF attempts and remortgaged their home to fund further treatment.

Mrs Ward fell pregnant in April last year after doctors at a clinic in Valencia, Spain, put donor eggs and sperm directly into her uterus. Twins Benjamin and Walker were born on December 29.

Mrs Ward, a nurse, said: "When I held them for the first time my eyes just filled up with tears. We have both wanted this for so long now, it seemed unreal. They're our little miracles -- both are perfectly healthy and neither of us can believe they are here."

hnews@herald.ie