Case Studies
Elise Facer (1990)
58 year old Rosemary Facer has very different experiences of Bourn Hall. The first was in 1987 when she had the twins, Ben and Jamie and the second, three years later with her daughter Elise.
The first time, Bourn Hall was at the forefront of IVF and it was 'frontier work' and very exciting to be apart of.
"It was all amazing," she remembers. "Steptoe was still there, he was very old and had a walking stick but I felt very safe in his hands. He was a very formidable character, but he wasn't haughty and made me feel at home."
She remembers lots of portocabins, even the operations theatre was a portocabin! Women stayed in the village and came for two weeks. It was exciting.
All the women were very united and excited, it was a great time, felt she was 'on the crest of a wave'
With the boys she made medical history - it was the 1st live birth using frozen embryos. IVF was so new that when she went for her booking appointment the nurse had never heard of IVF!!
With her daughter Elise it was quite different, the treatments had developed and it was more like a private clinic and less experimental.
Elise is 17 and is in upper 6 doing all sciences. The boys are at university Ben reading Maths at Exeter and Jamie Psychology and Physiology at Cardiff.
Rosemary says that having children : "It was a little miracle, best thing to happen to me".
