"I Gave Up": Shark Tank Judge Namita Thapar Reveals Her Struggles With IVF

The second season of Shark Tank India has been making headlines ever since it aired on television. From interesting pitches to the judges revealing some of their hidden secrets about their ventures, we have been witnessing all of it. In one of the episodes, businesswoman and the Executive Director of Emcure Pharmaceuticals, Namita Thapar, opened about her struggles with conceiving her second child through in-vitro fertilization (IVF). 

Ms Thapar shared her story during a pitch which focused on the issue of infertility that women face, with the contestants revealing the development of an IUI home kit. Their product is designed for infertile couples to use at home rather than in a hospital. 

Ms Thapar became a mother by naturally conceiving at the age of 28. The businesswoman, however, faced fertility problems, after three to four years when she wished for a second kid. She chose to undergo the IVF way twice, enduring 25 injections that caused her excruciating physical and mental suffering. 

She said, "In my case when I was 28 years old, I wanted to get pregnant and in 2 months I conceived and had a normal pregnancy after that, for 3 to 4 years I tried and I couldn't conceive. I have gone through 2 infertility treatments and those 25 injections and the emotional and physical pain that I went through."

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Ms Thapar admitted that she was unhappy with her decision to stop trying for children completely and be happy with just one. She was able to conceive naturally after a few months, but it took her a while to recover from the trauma.

"I already have kids but imagine the parents who don't have kids. After two attempts I gave up and said that I am happy with one child. But then a miracle happened and I conceived naturally but the memory stayed with me, and for 10 years I couldn't talk about it publicly. It was very tough for me to share it with anyone," she continued. 

She believed that the subject was a "taboo". Ms Thapar added, "Just six months ago, I had to discuss the topic of infertility on my YouTube channel and I couldn't sleep the entire night as to whether I would be able to share my personal experience or not.  Many of my well-wishers told me, it's my personal life, why should I discuss it? However, I decided to share what I have gone through with others. In fact, I wrote about it in my book as well."