More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
by Jack Longstaff
A woman has refused to give up hope of becoming a mum despite discovering she was infertile on Valentine's Day - after two failed pregnancies robbed her of her ability to have kids.
Parise Wong suffered her first ectopic pregnancy - when the egg implants in the fallopian tube, not the womb - aged just 18.
The 28-year-old had to have surgery to remove the egg and one tube, leaving her with a 50% less chance of conceiving naturally.
Ten years later - in the very same hospital room where she experienced the first tragedy - she discovered her unborn baby was once again growing in her remaining fallopian tube.
Doctors had to remove the tube, and she came round from the op on this Valentine's Day to the realisation she couldn't have children naturally.
Parise and partner Dwayne Drinkwater, from Margate, Kent, are now fundraising for a charity which supports people who have had ectopic pregnancies, and are beginning IVF.
Holiday home supervisor Parise said: "It was so surreal. I was in the same clinic and it all came back to me.
"It was the most emotional thing I have ever been through. We both went through so many emotions. I felt so sorry for myself.
"I was absolutely devastated and Dwayne was just as devastated. We were equally as heartbroken as each other."
At the age of 18, when she was three months into an unplanned pregnancy, Parise tragically lost a baby when she suffered her first ectopic pregnancy.
Her baby was growing outside of the womb and during a scan at hospital, her left fallopian tube ruptured and had to be taken out.
Parise and self-employed labourer Dwayne met in 2014 through mutual friends. After three years of trying for a baby, she was told in December last year her eggs were not reaching the womb properly, and she'd need medication to make conceiving safer and easier.
But while waiting to start the medication, she discovered she was pregnant in early February.
"We really got our hopes up and were so excited to be parents," she said.
"We both told our parents when I found out I was pregnant and everyone was excited for us."
Knowing it was risky due to the recent advice, she was worried, and when she started bleeding just a few days later, she went straight to A&E.
Parise said: "We had stopped trying for a baby until we got the medication. I was supposed to be going to a fertility clinic for treatment. I thought this would be the answer.
"It was completely out of the blue when I fell pregnant."
She was seen by doctors at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM), in Margate and asked to come back for scans in two days.
"I don't know if I'll ever be able to have children... it's heartbreaking for me" - Parise Wong
She returned on February 8 and found herself in the same room in the same hospital as she was in when she experienced her first failed pregnancy a decade ago.
"The scan showed nothing and I feared the worst again," she said.
"I knew now what the risk was. I knew there was a chance it could be ectopic. I felt so confused but tried so hard to stay positive. It was so scary and I just wanted everything to be ok."
Two days later blood tests confirmed elevated hormone levels - meaning she was pregnant.
And in the following days doctors found the embryo growing inside her remaining fallopian tube, in a scan, on February 12.
Doctors decided the damaged tube and the embryo had to be removed - an operation that caused her "whole world to come crashing down".
Parise was operated on that day and had keyhole surgery to remove the right tube.
When she fully came round from the surgery on February 14, with Dwayne at her bedside, the couple sobbed over the realisation Parise was now infertile.
She said: "I knew exactly what the surgery meant. When I came round properly the reality of it all just hit me.
"I knew it was too late for me. I never wanted a baby until I met Dwayne. The day we met, we clicked straight away.
"We knew straight away that we wanted children. Dwayne brought out a whole new side to me.
"We both just burst into tears. Our whole world came crashing down on top of us.
"The only option left for us now is IVF."
Parise and Dwayne will meet with their surgeon, in three weeks time, to discuss IVF and whether or not the couple qualify for treatment with the NHS.
But Parise says she has been told by doctors it is still possible for her to suffer a third eptopic pregnancy if she successfully falls pregnant through IVF.
A hospital nurse has warned Parise that whilst the IVF procedure places an embryo in the womb, it is still possible for the embryo to implant itself outside of the womb.
She said: "I don't know if I'll ever be able to have children. It's heartbreaking for me."
Parise says many of her friends have children of their own and she feels like she is missing out on experiencing an idyllic family environment.
The couple have launched a fundraising campaign to raise money for charity EPT Ectopic Pregnancy Trust.
Parise said: "We just love children. We both really want a family and to experience family life.
"We do want our own, of course, but won't let it get us down if we can't.
"If IVF fails then we will look at adoption. We won't give up."
