Woman, 54, pens memoir after giving birth via donor egg

A 54-year-old woman has opened up about having a child at the age of 54 using donor eggs

Carolyn Mayling, who is now 68, enlisted the help of a stranger from Moldova to have her son, Dom, who is now 14.

The decision to have a child in her 50s was not an easy one, and the reason for doing so was following a message from her daughter, Rosie, from beyond the grave after her untimely death at the age of 11.

Carolyn told the Express newspaper: “I didn’t give birth at 54 as a replacement for Rosie., but to help fill the void of losing her. I wanted to give our family a future.”

Carolyn and her husband had two daughters, Ellie, then 14, and Rosie, 11 when Rosie became ill with a cough during a Christmas pantomime rehearsal in 2003.

Over the next few months, doctors discovered Rosie had pulmonary embolisms and had several surgeries to remove the blood clots. She was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease called vasculitis.

She was in and out of the hospital, but in April 2003, just days after being discharged, Rosie suffered a catastrophic hemorrhage and was placed in intensive care.

Nine days later the family made the decision to turn off her life support machine.

Carolyn said the family had no support or was not given any help on how to cope with such a deep loss.

She said: “There was no support telling us how to cope with the loss of a child. Two days after her death, my husband had a heart attack. I told him he had to live because we had another daughter to look after and he couldn’t leave us.”

After Rosie’s death, Carolyn decided that she wanted to have another child, but at the age of 48, she was told she would need to use a donor egg.

She said: “My sister offered her eggs at first, and we tried twice with them at a clinic in Cyprus as it was a shorter waiting time, but it didn’t work.

“I’d been to see several mediums who all told me I was going to have another child, so I knew it would happen eventually.

“Dom is amazing and I love him to bits. Rosie was irreplaceable but it gave our family hope again.”

Carolyn has now penned a memoir entitled The Future is Rosie about the highs and lows of her life.

To purchase a copy of the book, click here.

Learn more about egg donation:

Egg donation – your questions answered by Gail Sexton Anderson, founder of Donor Concierge