Melbourne grandmother of four who became a mum again at 51 hopes to have another baby

November 7, 2016

Kim and Greg Castles, both 51, needed an egg donor to have another child
Jade Morgan, 22, agreed to donate after seeing an advert they placed
Ms Castles has since welcomed a baby girl, Nellie, into the world
Now she has told Woman’s Day she hopes to give her daughter a sibling
Said: ‘I’m trying to get it happening now, I don’t want to leave it too late.’

Katherine Davison For Daily Mail Australia

Published:
20:39 EST, 6 November 2016

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Updated:
20:44 EST, 6 November 2016

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A woman who became a mum again at the age of 51, thanks to the help of a stranger who donated her eggs, has revealed she wants to have another baby.

Grandmother of four Kim Castles, from Melbourne, told Woman’s Day that she hopes to give baby Nellie – who was conceived with the help of egg donor Jade Morgan, 22 – a sibling.

‘I desperately love Nellie,’ Ms Castles, who has a 33-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, told the magazine. ‘She’s just a perfect baby. She doesn’t cry – she’s one out of the box’.

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Kim Castles (pictured) told Woman’s Day that she hopes to give baby Nellie – who was conceived with the help of egg donor Jade Morgan, 22 – a sibling.

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She went on to say that, as she has another embryo from another of Ms Morgan’s fertilised eggs available, she hopes to have another child.

‘We have one frozen, ready to go,’ she said. ‘I’m trying to get it happening now. I don’t want to leave it too late.’

Ms Castles and her husband Greg made headlines earlier this year when they appeared on 60 Minutes, talking about the difficulties they faced during their quest to find an egg donor.

The couple met in their 40s and had their daughter Stephanie shortly after but had always yearned for another child

Greg (left) and Kim Castles (middle) had their daughter Nellie (right) after paying for a young woman’s braces so she would donate her eggs

The couple had placed an advertisement in a Melbourne newspaper seeking a ‘kind and generous’ woman to donate her eggs after losing twins in a miscarriage and finding out they were too old to conceive a child naturally.

They had several women respond but many were looking to take advantage of their desperation and tried to negotiate payments of up to $20,000 – a practice which is illegal in Australia and can attract a 15 year jail sentence.

The couple’s dream finally came true when Ms Morgan said she would be willing to undergo painful fertility treatments, counselling and a surgery so she could donate her eggs in exchange for $5,000 worth of dental work.

The couple’s dream finally came true when 22-year-old Jade Morgan (pictured) said she would be willing to undergo painful fertility treatments, counselling and a surgery so she could donate her eggs

Mrs Castles said she was consumed by the desire to expand her family when she decided to cover Ms Morgan’s medical costs and agreed to ‘compensate’ her by paying $5,000 for her braces.

‘If you want this then you’re going to have to pay for it because no one is willing to go through all that for nothing,’ Mrs Hughes told 60 Minutes.

‘You’re hoping people will do it out of the goodness of their heart, helping another person,’ she added.

But despite knowing they were breaking the law, the doting parents said they had no regrets after holding their new baby Nellie (pictured) in their arms for the first time

But despite knowing they were breaking the law, the doting parents said they had no regrets after holding their new baby Nellie in their arms for the first time.

‘[It is] not unethical. She’s done so much more than we’ve done for her. We just paid for her teeth – so what?’ Mrs Castles said at the time.

‘It might be the law but it’s unfair. It is destroying families,’ Mr Castles added.

Mrs Castle said the laws surrounding the purchase of eggs should be relaxed so women can be fairly compensated for their sacrifice.

‘They not just giving an egg, they are giving a family they should be compensated… they are heroes,’ she told 60 Minutes.

‘[It is] not unethical. She’s done so much more than we’ve done for her. We just paid for her teeth – so what?’ Mrs Castles (left) said of her daughter’s biological mother (right)

Australian surrogacy lawyer Stephen Page previously said there is a growing market in egg donation and he argued women should be paid around $5,000 for giving up their eggs.

‘These women who spend 50 hours multiple injections, have a shot in the stomach every day, have the risk of too many eggs being pulled out and as a result they may die – they don’t get paid and I think $5,000 would be a reasonable figure,’ he said.

But Ms Morgan said donating her eggs was never about money at all.

‘It’s about helping one another and helping complete a family,’ she told 60 Minutes.