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Baby steps towards £1m fertility support programme

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For five years, GP Rachel Stone, 34, and her solicitor husband, Andrew, 35, tried to conceive.

After four cycles of IVF treatment costing a total £50,000, the Cheshire couple even contemplated moving to a cheaper property to fund another attempt.

She had one embryo left when her cousin told her about Bonei Olam, an international charity providing fertility treatment funding.

The organisation paid for an entire cycle of IVF for the couple and in January, Dr Stone gave birth to a daughter, Eliana Esther. Now she is supporting Bonei Olam's national campaign, My Child's My World, which has a £1 million target.

"You feel you've failed as a person when you can't have a child," Dr Stone said. "Having a child is priceless. You can't put a cost on it."

The unsuccessful attempts had been "horrific" for her and her husband. "Mostly it was just lonely because we didn't know many people who were going through what we were going through. Everyone knows someone having a baby, but not many people know couples struggling to have a baby."

Holding her daughter for the first time had been "the most amazing moment. The last few months have been wonderful, the best of our lives. It's like she was always here, always with us. Even though we doubted it would ever happen, it's like it was meant to.

"I am amazingly grateful. I don't think we could have done it without Bonei Olam. They couldn't do enough to help."

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