Kira Jones was told that if she wanted to ‘do something about it’, it had to be ‘done here and now’
A Hertfordshire teenager who was just taking her first steps into adulthood was shocked to discover that she was perimenopausal aged 19, and had an ovarian reserve similar to someone in their 40s, prompting her to freeze her eggs long before she had even begun thinking about starting a family.
Kira Jones, who is now 25, started her job at the Herts & Essex Fertility Centre in 2020 and decided to take an Anti-Mullerian Hormone Test (AMH), which gives an indication of the number of eggs present in the ovaries. However, to her surprise, Kira discovered that she had a low ovarian reserve – one that was comparable to someone in their late 30s or 40s – and was told that she was perimenopausal at 19.
Kira had “always wanted a big family” and having children with her partner was something she was considering in the future. So, she decided to begin the process of egg preservation, so that she would have a better chance of starting a family when she was ready, and said that the experience has made her want to urge other young people to consider their fertility.
“I think I’ve been in such a fortunate position that I could allow myself to have that choice (of starting a family), rather than it just being ripped away from me and not knowing,” Kira told PA Real Life. “You always think, ‘Oh, I can just have a family, I’ll be all right’. But it almost felt like wow, maybe it’s not going to be okay… That is something that I hadn’t even considered I’d have to start thinking of.”
When Kira had the AMH test, which measures a hormone released by the follicles in the ovary and gives an indication of the number of remaining eggs, in 2020, she said she simply did it because it was available to her at the fertility clinic where she worked. The results showed that her AMH levels were 5.8pmol/l. While NHS data is not usually collected for teenagers, available data shows that the reference AMH range for women aged 20 to 24 is 8.7 to 83.6 pmol/l, decreasing with age.
“I didn’t even know I was perimenopausal,” Kira added. “I thought I was just a regular person, just had a few irregular periods here and there and that was that.”
After getting her test results, Kira said she was told that if she wanted to “do something about it”, it had to be “done here and now”.
“If I was to wait until later on in life, I might not then have that opportunity to preserve my eggs or to have a family naturally, either,” she said. Kira made the decision to begin the process of egg retrieval and preservation, a costly procedure that involves both an initial fee and ongoing payments to maintain the frozen eggs.
Egg preservation for personal or lifestyle reasons is not funded by the NHS, with the treatment only available through the NHS if it is medically necessary due to a health condition or treatment that threatens fertility, such as cancer treatment or gender-affirming hormone treatment, meaning Kira had to fund the treatment herself. She borrowed money from her family, and has had to make personal financial sacrifices to afford the monthly egg preservation fees.
“It was a decision that I knew I had to make, and it was one that obviously came with financial pressure, and with emotional pressure, because it’s come out of the blue. It’s like this brick wall that hits you,” Kira said. “It felt quite isolating… I didn’t know anybody else that was going through this at my age.”
Kira had two rounds of egg retrieval and of the 26 that were retrieved, 17 eggs were successfully frozen and stored. In addition to the heartache of discovering the risk to her fertility, Kira said that dealing with perimenopause at a young age has also been challenging.
“I’ve now had to really be careful of my lifestyle choices. I already have osteopenia in my hips, I already have to have Dexa scans for my bone density,” she said. “(I have) to make sure I’m being one step ahead of myself in terms of my general health, because I know that my body due to early menopause isn’t necessarily where I want it to be.
“Changing my lifestyle, my diet, and having to be a bit more switched on to that, and get my hormones checked every so often as well. Brain fog day to day is awful. You feel like you’re a toddler again. I’ll go and say something, and I don’t even know where that train of thought was. I’m 25, this is my prime and yet my body’s almost restricting what I’m able to do.”
Kira’s experience has made her passionate about ensuring other young people pay attention to their fertility, too. Even at 25, she said that if she were to find out about her fertility issues now, “it would have thrown a curveball a bit more”.
“I’m where I’d like to be in my career, the next step would naturally be a family,” she said. “I think if I’d been told now, it definitely would have shaken me a bit more, and I wouldn’t have been as financially prepared to be able to do (anything about it) because it’s not something I would have ever thought was going to happen to me. I think especially the way the world is going, with (people) getting on the property ladder later, starting families later, it only opens up more room for conversation.”
Looking to the future with her partner, who has been with her throughout the process, Kira said that she would love to have a family in “whatever way, shape, or form that comes”.
“I think it’s definitely changed my outlook on what family means and what it can look like,” she said. “If I can go through IVF and have a biological family, fantastic. If it’s not in the stars, then fine. There are plenty of children out there who need adopting, fostering, and unconditional love.
“Nothing’s off the table, but I think I’ve been in such a fortunate position that I could allow myself to have that choice, rather than it just being ripped away from me.”
To find out more about Herts & Essex Fertility Centre and the services it offers, visit hertsandessexfertility.com
