One in the hoop: the trials of infertility with Liz Ellis

She is Australia’s netball sweetheart; she has played for Australia 122 times and captained the national netball team for 4 years. She is Liz Ellis and besides winning two world championships and two commonwealth games, Liz has another tale to share: a journey to parenthood that was less than smooth.

During attempts to fall pregnant with a second child, Liz was hurtled into secondary infertility, experiencing, first hand, what it is to be a cog in the wheel of IVF treatments, enduring the grief of miscarriages (three). She and her husband went through this for 5 long years.

Liz understands this journey well and she knows how much a woman can yearn for a child, be it their first second or seventh. Today, as a parent to two beautiful children Liz can look back on the 5 years it took to get here and know that this has changed her irrevocably and she is passionate about sharing all she learned with others. So much so that she Liz embarked on a book, If At First You Don’t Conceive, which offers a beacon of light as it guides other women and their partners struggling through the funnel of fertility challenges.

The beauty of her book is Liz not only tackles IVF- she recognises there are other paths women and men can take and she includes these in her book too. 

In this episode, Liz pleads with women to, ‘engage with your own fertility. Be the driving force and be empowered about your own journey’.

Have a listen to what she has to say. Then go out and buy her book. It’s worth it.

(In listening to this podcast, please note there is her small child in the background.)

Author and Podcast Producer: Kimberley Lipschus

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Listen to "One in the Hoop with Liz Ellis" on Spreaker.