A maternity ward health care assistant from Orpington is hoping her dream of having a child of her own will come true after a “painful and heart-breaking” fertility journey.

Kezi and her husband Lorne Shallcross have been trying for a baby for around 10 years and are now turning public to help them on their journey to parenthood via private treatment after a stressful period of trying to get IVF through the NHS.

Kezi has been working as a health care assistant on a maternity ward for around 11 years - caring for new parents as they welcome their babies into the world.

She told the New Shopper: “When I was a little girl, it was all I imagined.

“I’d get married, I’d have children - I never imagined I'd be faced with what I am dealing with now.

“You just want what everyone else has got.”

Kezi went to the doctors with concerns in 2019 after as her family has a history of early menopause and had a series of tests completed regarding her fertility.

The couple were offered one round of IVF on the NHS but this did not end up going ahead due to repeated delays. 

Kezi was finding the mental load of the process difficult and had to anxiously await weeks for results and further discussions with the doctors.

She explained: “It’s kind of hard helping new mums and babies, equally when we are going through the journey that we are going through.

“It is tough because you are happy for everyone but you are just sad for yourself.

“I've spoken to patients before and I've heard a little bit about their own similar fertility journeys, and I just couldn't believe what they were telling me.

“Listening to these other women and realising how much it's cost them to get treatment and what they have done to get the baby.

“I just can't believe the mental strain and the stress that they've gone through – it was such an eye opener and I understand it all now I’m going through it too.”

Kezi explained that after her last scan a few weeks ago she had a feeling that it was not going to be good news and so her work friends started talking about setting up a GoFundMe so that the couple take their treatment private.

She continued: “I just feel that going through the NHS - it's so hard. It's mentally draining and exhausting.

“The waiting times are long and even the way you are treated sometimes is hard because they just aren’t honest.

“Even to get to the stage where I was at with the NHS the whole process was long – and I appreciate there was always going to be delays with Covid and everything else, and I fully understand that because I work in that kind of setting.

“But I feel that when you are actually on that journey and you are just getting to the point where you are back to start treatments – You get a little bit excited because you think ‘Well, you know this is it!’ and then you’ll take another blow and you are stuck waiting again.

“I didn’t feel like I was actually getting anywhere because it was like one step forward 20 steps back.

“I even had to put a complaint in because I just felt like I was being messed around.

“Unless you have gone through that process - I don't think anyone can fully understand.”

At first, Kezi was apprehensive about her GoFundMe as she said that “times are tough and people have other things to be paying for” but once the fundraiser was set up, the donations started flooding in.

She is “so grateful” for her friends and family’s support and the money they have put into the fundraiser – particularly to her work friends who have been with her every single step of the way.

Kezi and Lorne are now more than halfway to their target fund of £10,000 which will go towards medical bills, travel costs and extensive procedures and consultant appointments.

They have decided to travel to Cyprus for their IVF treatment.

Kezi said: “It's given me hope because a month ago I had no hope - I had nothing left and I was about to give up but then when I saw how well the fundraiser was doing, I was like, ‘Oh my God, my dream is actually becoming real!”.