HEARTBROKEN Gemma Fawcett has issued a plea for egg donors after she was left unable to have a baby because she had her menopause at the age of 19.

Ms Fawcett, a civil servant, and her fiance, John Armstrong, a butcher and baker, met five years ago when she was 18.

They tried unsuccessfully for a year for a child before their GP sent them for tests.

Doctors at South Tyneside District Hospital found that Ms Fawcett, from South Shields, South Tyneside, was not producing a monthly egg.

She said: "We embarked on fertility drugs, first pills and then daily injections.

"I was hopeful, but after two years still nothing was happening and we were desperate."

After two years, Ms Fawcett was transferred to fertility specialists at Newcastle's Centre For Life, where further tests revealed the reasons she could not conceive.

The couple were left with egg donation as their only hope of having a baby.

But they are being denied the chance of parenthood because of a shortage of egg donors.

Yesterday Ms Fawcett appealed for women to come forward and help make her dream come true.

She said: "All these people are waiting for fertility treatment, but only a handful of women are coming forward to give the gift of life."

One in six couples have trouble conceiving and the Centre for Life's Centre for Reproductive Medicine sees approximately 1,000 couples every year needing help to fulfil their wish to have a family.

There are 65 couples waiting for an egg donor.

Last year, there were 50 women on the list and 17 donors came forward, resulting in six babies.

But many of these donors were friends and relatives of the recipients, and health chiefs want more anonymous donors to come forward.