Ruth - Fertility Nurse and treatment co-ordinator

Simon - Husband to Ruth and founder of IVF Travel Solutions

Sharon Clarke - Staff Nurse Sharon Clarke and Ruth MK II

John Clarke - Travel arranger and all round good egg!

From Ruth: My name is Ruth Pellow and I am a trained nurse with 17 years experience in the field of infertility treatment. For the past four and a half years I have been working at a clinic on the Costa del Sol, Spain. My husband is Simon who runs IVF Travel Solutions and we have a daughter who is currently eight years old, (going on 13)! and two completely mad, but lovable dogs, Ini and Merlin.

I am committed to providing you with the best possible patient care that I can and to try and make the whole process as simple and stress free as possible. You are far, far more than just a patient to me. You are a human being that is going through one of the hardest things it is possible to experience. Your emotions will be in turmoil and your hormones will be raging (and not just from the medications you will be on!), but I will be there as the voice of reason and calm and stability. You only need to read a few of the testimonials to see the positive relationships I have established with my patients.

Most of our couples coming over are looking for egg donation, but more and more are coming for either donor sperm, or treatment using their own eggs and sperm, especially where they want to start treatment quickly, consider additional treatment options such as up to 3 embryos being replaced, or other techniques such as blastocyst transfer and assisted hatching. My first post was as a nurse for 3 years in a clinic on Harley Street, London. This was followed by 9 years as the senior nurse and head of the egg donation programme at the Centre for Reproductive Medicine and Surgery at St Bartholomew´s Hospital in London.

I have numerous qualifications including the Royal College of Nursing specialized Fertility Nurse´qualification. I regularly attend conferences to maintain and expand my knowledge on current fertility practice, issues and treatments. The amount of couples coming here has easily double in the last year. This is mainly due to couples realizing that there is an alternative option to treatment in England, and that there is an English speaking nurse at the clinic. I don´t think that it is the fact that the weather is a lot nicer, but you never know!

From Sharon: To all of our prospective clients, I would like to welcome you to Greece IVF and IVF Treatment Abroad. My name is Sharon Clarke and I am an English Staff nurse living in Marathon, Greece.

My husband John and myself have lived here for 2 and a half years, initially in a town called Nea Makre, until our house was completed in August 2008.

I started my nursing career in 1983 in Wigan, Lancashire. Having completed my training, I spent a short time working on the wards before finally settling for the operating theatres. This included many specialities, orthopaedic, gynaecology, general surgery, dental, eye and finally daycase which included some plastic surgery.

My own speciality within theatres was anaesthetic and recovery nurse, of which I achieved a Diploma of Higher Education at the University of Central Lancashire. Also during my working practice I achieved certificates in Health and safety, Intravenous and pain management and general IT skills.

On a more personal level, I have been married to John for 21 years. John has 2 children from a previous marriage but unfortunately we ourselves were not blessed. We did have IVF treatments in Nottingham and our local hospital in Manchester but these were unfortunately unsuccessful. Because of having gone through treatment ourselves, John and I have a good idea of the emotional turmoil that you, as a couple will be experiencing, and we both look forward in trying to help all your dreams come true, as do our friends and colleagues, Ruth and Simon.

This is more than a job to us. You are real people trying to achieve one of life´s ultimate goals, and because of all of us being so closely associated with this particular aspect of your lives, we cannot help but become emotionally involved as well as being an integral part of your support team. To be honest, we would not have it any other way!

John and I have many interests together, the main being our love of Greece. We have both completed courses in Greek, but we still have much to learn. We decided to move here as we have visited many places in Greece over the last 20 years and Marathon felt the right place to settle down. We love the relaxed way of life, the culture and most definitely the food, although this means that I have to get the bike out, or go for a long swim afterwards. I have recently returned to a pastime I love which is painting. Mainly watercolours at this stage, but with a view to experimenting with other mediums as well. John has volunteered to do a nude pose, but I am not sure if I should inflict this on humanity in general. We have enough problems going on in the world as it is!!!!"

TESTIMONIALS: Throughout our fertility treatment, we were both overwhelmed at how friendly, efficient and professional Ruth Pellow was - she was absolutely fabulous every step of the way of what can be a very stressful and emotional journey. She guided us through each stage of the IVF process in a very personal yet knowledgeable manner and we were always astonished at the great speed with which she replied to our various emails and returned our calls at all hours of the day including weekends!

Karen and Jonathan Olliver
May 2009

>>Read more testimonials