'Please help me have a baby' (From Harrow Times)

'Please help me have a baby'

11:37am Friday 13th April 2007 in

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A TSUNAMI survivor who is desperate to have children is appealing for women to help her by donating their eggs.

Niki Cotsen, 38, and her husband Jason, 36, have been trying for a baby since they first met, but have struggled to make their dream come true.

The couple, of Windsor Road, Harrow Weald, have spent nearly £15,000 for three rounds of IVF treatment with no success.

Niki, a desktop publisher, has been unable to have a child as her body does not produce enough eggs. She needs a donor to give her that extra chance.

She said: "Egg donation means the child will not genetically be mine, but it will be my husband's and I would have nourished, given birth and experienced pregnancy.

"It will be part of me which is the next best thing to becoming pregnant with my own egg."

Nationally, there is a huge shortage of egg donors, meaning people like Niki could wait anywhere up to five years before finding a donor.

Niki, who was raised in Stanmore, said: "Imagine your biggest dream and your life would not be complete without that dream coming true, that is how I feel.

"Having a baby means everything, it is the most important thing. I cannot even put it into words.

"If we don't have a baby I don't know what I am going to do with myself. I am still young enough to hopefully make it work but when I am 50 without a child, I don't know how I will feel. I have wanted this since I was 14."

Jason, who was brought up in Harrow Weald, met Niki in 2003 through a Jewish dating website. They married the following year.

She said: "We pretty much started trying for a baby as soon as we met as we knew we were meant for each other."

The couple were enjoying a two-week honeymoon in Koh Racha, an island off the coast of Thailand, when they, like thousands of other people, became victims of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

Recalling the horror of the tragedy that unfolded, Niki said: "We had been there for 12 days. While we were eating breakfast I saw the wave coming in.

"I ran towards it as did everyone else, no one knew what it was."

Luckily for the newlyweds, they managed to escape without injury, but lost everything they had taken with them.

Niki said: "The most harrowing experience of my life was when we arrived at the town hall in Phuket.

"We saw these boards of pictures of dead people and people who had the most horrendous injuries.

"We suffered from guilt because we just lost stuff, we weren't hurt. We felt guilty that we had survived."

Nearly three years on, Niki still gets tearful thinking back to the tsunami, but is resolute in putting it behind her and becoming a mother.

She said: "We are nice, good people, we deserve to be pregnant.

"I want to and need to get pregnant. I will feel like I have missed out on my right as a woman if I don't."

Aware of the commitment egg donors would have to make, Niki is pleading for people to come forward and help her realise her dream.

She said: "You won't get paid but you will help create a warm and loving family."

If you are interested in helping Niki and Jason, please email sanand@london.newsquest.co.uk for more information or call 01923 206574.