Woman, 59, offered

The Sun 17/01/2010

A WOMAN aged 59 is the oldest in Britain to be offered the chance to become an IVF mum.

Susan Tollefsen has beaten guidelines which until now meant over 50s were normally barred from help at British clinics.

Mrs Tollefsen was branded 'too old' once before but went on to have her first child two years ago thanks to IVF docs in Russia.

"To say I was despondent is probably an understatement," she said.

"I was absolutely devastated because I felt sure that there was somebody who could've helped me."

Two years later shock critics have slammed the private London Women's Clinic in exclusive Harley Street which has relaxed the rules and offered her a second chance.

The retired teacher defended her right to have another child - despite turning 60 in October and suffering a catalogue of health problems. She's got a benign brain tumour, lost hearing in her left ear five years ago, has had one knee replaced, the other is dodgy - and she has back trouble.

She said: "I'm still so full of life and healthy at 60 I don't see any reason why I shouldn't be treated. I really want to do it - 110 per cent.

"I think if I had a magic wand and could knock 10, 15, 20 years off my life, I would - but unfortunately I can't."

Her £5,000 treatment will go ahead as long as her GP gives it the all clear. She has pledged to live in a nursing home rather than burden her children.

Government guidelines say the NHS should avoid IVF for women over 40. Private clinics have until now drawn the line at 50 because of health fears and concern for kids being brought up by 'elderly' parents.

Critics are calling for a legal age limit after doctors held a vote on whether to treat her - she won unanimously.

Mrs Tollefsen hit back at her critics: "I just don't think it's acceptable to say that someone would be a good mother at 49-and-a-half, but not such a good mother at 50.

"If the circumstances are right, I would encourage other women my age to do this."

IVF mum Elizabeth Buttle also gave birth aged 60 in 1997 - after telling doctors she was 49.

Clinics do not have to tell regulators if they treat older women but they must seriously consider the welfare of the child before they do.

Tory MP Nadine Dorries said women who lose the ability to conceive naturally should just give up.

"Once you pass the point of natural conception, that's when you should stop. We need to legislate for this because inevitably society will have to pick up the cost later.

"Perhaps the cut-off point could be extended by a couple of years into the early 50s, but moving as far as 60 - which is a huge leap - is slightly preposterous."

Mrs Tollefsen, from Laindon, Essex, gave birth to first child Freya in March 2008 after using a donor egg from a specially chosen blonde Ukranian and sperm from partner Nick Mayer who is 11 years younger.

Floods of women are expected to follow the retired special needs teacher into older motherhood.

Josephine Quintaville, of the pro-life group Comment On Reproductive Ethics, said: "There's plenty of money in IVF and they'll be inundated, I'm sure."

"This is very, very bad news and simply should not happen. Once you cross this line and let a 60-year-old have treatment it's right to get Parliament involved."

The London Women's Clinic was rocked by scandal last November when sperm with genetic defects slipped through screenings for use in treatments. In 2007 its scientific director Director Kamal Ahuja, 55, let a pensioner donate sperm to conceive his own grandchild when his son was found to be infertile.

Clinic doctor Peter Bowen-Simpkins insisted: "We are not opening the floodgates to anyone wandering around the streets in their 50s who wants a child. It's a fairly tough road to go down."

Last year Elizabeth Adeney, 66, from Lidgate, Suffolk, became the country's oldest mum after getting IVF in Ukraine.

Too Old To Be A Mum? will be screened on BBC1 on Tuesday January 26 at 10.35pm.