TwoDads UK to Launch Surrogacy Organisation, My Surrogacy Journey on World Fertility Day

Press Release: World Fertility Day is the 2nd November

TwoDads UK to Launch Surrogacy Organisation, My Surrogacy Journey


2nd November 2020 - Michael and Wes Johnson-Ellis of TwoDads UK and Francesca Steyn, Fertility Nurse, Surrogacy Expert and Known Egg Donor, are excited and proud to be launching My Surrogacy Journey, a non-for profit Surrogacy organisation.

My Surrogacy Journey will offer emotional, practical and logistical support at every stage of the parenting journey. Our inclusive and innovative platform will guide and support all members equally when building a family through surrogacy, at home and abroad. Membership is for in-tended parents, surrogates and known egg donors and every member of My Surrogacy Journey is equal. We believe that a successful surrogacy journey relies on everyone involved being emotion-ally, legally and medically informed thus ensuring that every relationship is built on honesty and transparency.

For this reason, My Surrogacy Journey will offer unparalleled support for everyone starting at conception, to pregnancy, birth and beyond. From practical guidance through the process, to specialist counselling, building patient pathways from fertility clinics to NHS hospitals. Offering a UK first including pre-conception screening to newborn genetic testing and much more. My Surrogacy Journey has partnered with a number of innovative companies to also provide access to leading fertility technology: Igenomix (genetic testing), FenoMatch (facial recognition donor matching) ExSeed (home sperm testing) and EngagedMD (UK regulatory consent platform) ensuring clinics are released to focus more on clinical care.

In addition to the large team of experts providing individual, whether virtual or in-person, support for each journey, My Surrogacy Journey has built an extensive library of educational content for Intended Parents, Surrogates and Known Egg Donors. This library covers every single step of the process, including the IVF, understanding the medication for surrogates, birth planning for intend-ed parents and surrogates, intended mother breast feeding vs bottle feeding, the parental order process, to name just a few in a list of hundreds of educational pieces. We have thought of every single step in the process so that both surrogates and intended parents can educate and prepare themselves. Everyone involved needs to know what questions to ask of themselves and what to ask of each other.

My Surrogacy Journey has been designed from lived experience. Founders Michael and Wes have two children through UK surrogacy and while they are forever grateful for their two children, it was a complex process during which they had to fight to be involved in steps of their pregnancy. Francesca Steyn was the lead nurse and head of surrogacy and compliance at one of the UK’s leading fertility clinics. She is also a Known Egg Donor herself. Francesca has witnessed first hand the level of support both intended parents and surrogates require and also the challenges faced by clinics with limited surrogacy experience, and in her career to date has campaigned for UK Government policy change, been involved in the UK Surrogacy Law Reform and supported hundreds of intended parents, including the first UK single intended parent. Joining them is Anna Buxton, mother to three via international surrogacy. Anna came to surrogacy after a long and painful fertility history and then navigated the complexities of international surrogacy alone because there is no one place that can support people at every stage of the process. With My Surrogacy Journey, this is going to change.

At the heart of My Surrogacy Journey is a group of professionals and parents dedicated to making this change happen. Michael, Wes and Francesca have put together an Advisory Board unlike any-thing seen before in the world of assisted fertility. Specialists from medical, clinical, legal, counselling, surrogate support and donor conception fields have all come together to be a part of My Surrogacy Journey. The size and depth of experience of the Advisory Board reflects both the complexity of surrogacy and the level of support we believe is necessary to ensure that every surrogate and all intended parents are protected and supported throughout their journey.

We also want to empower more woman to be surrogates if it is the right decision for them. Be-ing a surrogate is an unbelievable gift and sacrifice that can be forever life enhancing. For those women for whom surrogacy is their choice, we want to ensure that they have a home at My Surrogacy Journey that supports them and their families to make their experience reflect the incredible gift they are giving.

My Surrogacy Journey will launch in January 2021. We hope that it provides both the professional resources and access to a community to help nurture trusted, transparent and loving relationships to build more modern families.

www.mysurrogacyjourney.com

Note to Editors:

TwoDads UK (www.TwoDadsUK.com)

Michael and Wes Johnson-Ellis spent over three years researching surrogacy before starting their own fertility treatment in 2015. Talulah and Duke were born with the help on their surrogate and two egg donors. Through education and training, campaigning for the Surrogacy Law Reform and sharing their own experiences, TwoDads UK is the go to organisation for intended fathers seeking support and information about safer surrogacy in the UK, both Michael and Wes are committed to making the landscape of UK Gay Parenting a better, safe and more equal place.




Advisory Board

Francesca Steyn, Former Lead Nurse at CRGH and Head of Surrogacy and Compliance / Co-Founder of My Surrogacy Journey - Nursing and Clinical expert
Andrew Spearman, Head of Family Law, Laytons LLP - Surrogacy Law expert
John Lippitt, Senior Fertility Counsellor BICA Member – Counselling expert
Tracey Sainsbury, Senior Fertility Counsellor BICA Accredited – Counselling expert
Nina Barnsley, Chair of Donor Conception Network - Donor Conceived Support
James Lawford-Davies, Senior Partner, Hill Dickinson LLP - Quality and Compliance expert
Anna Buxton, My Surrogacy Journey - Heterosexual Intended Parents coordinator and International Surrogacy coordinator
Gina Kinson, Hope Surrogacy - Surrogate Support
Carole Gilling- Smith, Medical Director & CEO, The Agora Clinic, Consultant Fertility expert, HIV, Trans & Fertility Preservation expert
Lyndon Miles, Director of CRGW - Scientific Advisory expert
Kelly Da Silva, Dovecote Organisation - Emotional Support expert

FenoMatch

Our donor management system simplifies the selection process for clinics and banks. It's efficient, secure, and simple to use.
What's more, we have an algorithm which compares over 12,000 biometric measurements to find the donor with the greatest facial resemblance to the patient.
It's a scientific and objective tool which focuses on phenotypic traits that has already helped over 7,000 families

Igenomix

We work to make a world in which infertility is no longer an impossible barrier. Together with clinics and fertility doctors worldwide we investigate human reproduction to change the lives of those who are trying to conceive. Our research-led approach to reproductive genetics provides us with the evidence and expertise to offer testing and genetic counselling support for intended par-ents, whatever route they take towards growing their family.


ExSeed

At ExSeed Health we’re male health experts on a mission to address the 40% of all infertility that’s male related but currently remains largely neglected across the globe!
We built our company to utilise the latest scientific advances in fertility and health research to offer a range of innovative products, enabling men and couples to take ownership of their reproductive health.

EngagedMD

Each advance in assisted reproductive technology that brings patients closer to realising their dreams also brings a daunting collection of medical, legal, and financial considerations — all in-tended to assist patients in making values-based decisions about their treatment. EngagedMD was developed to help fertility care teams save time, improve the patient experience, go paper-less, and reduce risk in the informed consent process. Since launching in 2015, over 400,000 patients have learned about their treatment and completed informed consent documents through the EngagedMD platform.


This information is embargoed till the 2nd November to coincide with World Fertility Day

Please contact Michael at michael@mysurrogacyjourney.com or 07737115437