It's a family affair

Now the mum-of-three is battling against time to have another child.

Priscilla was sterilised after having two daughters in her early 20s. "It was done in such a way that it was irreversible," she said. "I had the children and thought that's all I wanted."

Nineteen years later, Priscilla and her second husband, Don, had Sophie, after IVF treatment using Priscilla's egg.

But the couple, formerly of Boscombe, but now living in Botley, Hampshire, shied away from having a second baby straight afterwards because of money problems.

"I wanted to be financially secure before having another child but I always wanted another after Sophie," added Priscilla.

Then three years ago, she began the search for a clinic which could give her the longed-for fourth baby. It triggered a series of heart-breaking setbacks.

"I went back to the clinic locally and I was past their age limit of 50. My hormonal profile wasn't right and there was a risk," said Priscilla. "But I was determined to carry on."

The hunt continued in London, where a clinic with a 55-year age limit gave the thumbs up.

But two years of relentless searching for a donor was in vain. Priscilla passed the age barrier and was turned away.

Events took a new twist earlier this year when the Eatwells went to Italy and found a leading IVF doctor who said he would treat Priscilla.

But she can no longer use her own eggs, as she did with Sophie, because the egg quality deteriorates with age.

Now the couple are on a mission to find a donor before it is too late.

"I'm really in a hurry to find a known donor. I've been doing it myself, advertising wherever I can," said Priscilla.

"The success rate is quite good - otherwise they wouldn't say they would do it.

"With Sophie I became pregnant straight away.

"But obviously my time is running out and if a donor doesn't come forward soon it'll be too late."

As well as taking out a small ad in a newspaper, the couple has put cards in shop windows and doctors' surgeries - but to no avail.

The donor would need to be under 36, preferably with a child already and be able to travel to Italy to the clinic.

She would face a series of injections, then an operation to remove the eggs.

"It's just purely giving an egg to me, from them," said Priscilla.

In the UK, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has set guidelines which pay donors just £15, plus expenses, including loss of earnings.

But in Italy these rules do not apply and the country has no IVF regulatory authority.

Treatment itself is thought to be around £2,000 to £3,000 per cycle.

However, Priscilla refused to talk about cost, saying she believed she was not allowed to advertise a fee payable to the donor. Instead the active mum, who runs a sheltered home in Bournemouth with Don, is looking to the future.

"I just desperately would love another child and all the joy it brings. I think about it all the time," she said. "Some people think I'm mad. Most women of my age would be doing their own thing now - they would not want children, with everything that goes with having a baby. But I am quite an energetic woman. I manage to look after my grandson. I've been through all that, all the counselling. I just want to try to achieve this."

She added: "It's totally different having a child when you're older. You enjoy it so much more. You appreciate things as you get older. It was a real gift to have had Sophie."

Sophie, she says, has had a "privileged" upbringing, attending an arts education boarding school in Hertfordshire.

The teenager, who dreams of being an actor, singer and dancer, is off to a specialised performance-focused day school in London next term.

She added with huge enthusiasm: "I can't wait to have a baby brother or sister. It's going to be great."

Of Priscilla's other two children, Carmen, 32, and Sadie, 34, one works on P&O ships and one lives locally, with her 10-month-old son Jacob.

Priscilla divorced their father when she was 29.