New Organization Filling Growing Need For Specialized Fertility Treatment Support

Main Category: Fertility
Also Included In: Transplants / Organ Donations
Article Date: 24 Nov 2008 - 1:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

Fertility treatment can be a difficult, complex, and often a secretive journey - even more so when couples or singles are not able to have children using their own eggs. But a new support group, Parents Via Egg Donation Organization (PVED), is offering information, resources and a sense of community to those considering or attempting to create families using donor eggs - and to those who already have families created via egg donation.

The global nonprofit organization has more than 2500 members who have joined the group seeking information, resources, and support as they go through the egg donation process. The membership includes couples and singles of various religions, races and sexual orientations. "Many of these individuals didn't feel like they had any means of receiving support, getting educated, becoming empowered, or had a voice," said Founder Marna Gatlin, who conceived her son with egg donation. "Often they felt isolated."

Gatlin has run a small e-mail listserv for years, but recently realized the need for a central resource and created PVED. "I decided to create an organization that would embrace every parent who had chosen egg donation to grow their family," said Gatlin. "And I took the idea a step further: this resource would be a global resource for unbiased, timely, and accurate information about egg donation, eliminating the need to search far and wide for piecemeal information and answers."

The organization offers how to information: How to select a donor; how to select an agency; how to select an infertility clinic; information about disclosure, medications, as well as information on the step-by-step egg donation process and resources and links where readers can learn more. Gatlin also offers information regarding agencies, legal and medical professionals, treatment centers, mental health therapists, pharmaceutical companies, and other resources.

The Parents Via Egg Donation Organization was created to provide an informational and supportive environment where parents and parents-to-be can come together to exchange information about all facets of the egg donation process. Our mission and purpose is to educate, support, and empower families and individuals at any stage of the process who choose to use egg donation to build a family.

http://www.pved.org