Kira Jones was just 19 when a routine fertility test at her workplace revealed she was perimenopausal, with an ovarian reserve comparable to someone in their late 30s or 40s. Shocked but determined to preserve her dream of a big family, she immediately began the process of egg freezing.
Unexpected diagnosis at 19
Kira, now 25, started working at Herts & Essex Fertility Centre in Waltham Cross in 2020. She decided to take an Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) test, which indicates the number of eggs in the ovaries. The results showed her AMH level was 5.8pmol/l, far below the typical range for women aged 20-24 (8.7 to 83.6 pmol/l). She was told she was perimenopausal.
"I didn't even know I was perimenopausal," Kira told PA Real Life. "I thought I was just a regular person, just had a few irregular periods here and there, and that was that."
Financial and emotional challenges
Egg preservation for personal reasons is not funded by the NHS, so Kira borrowed money from her family and made personal financial sacrifices to afford the initial fees and ongoing storage costs. She underwent two rounds of egg retrieval, successfully freezing 17 of 26 eggs.
"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," she said. "It felt quite isolating... I didn't know anybody else that was going through this at my age."
Dealing with perimenopause at a young age has also taken a toll on her health. Kira has developed osteopenia in her hips and must undergo regular Dexa scans to monitor bone density. She also experiences brain fog, which she describes as feeling "like you're a toddler again."
Urging others to consider fertility
Kira hopes her story will encourage other young people to pay attention to their fertility. "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," she said.
Looking ahead, Kira and her partner are open to various paths to parenthood. "If I can go through IVF and have a biological family, fantastic. If it's not in the stars, then fine. There's plenty of children out there that need adopting, fostering, and unconditional love," she said.
