Father of baby girl born after spending £60,000 on nine rounds of IVF publishes a children's book based on stories he wrote in the middle of the night as 'therapy' during their fertility battle

• Dale and Marie Neal, from Barrowford, welcomed daughter Essie through IVF
• Marie was left devastated after she went through menopause early at age of 36
• Hairdresser Dale published a book after writing helped him during a 'dark place'

The father of a miracle baby girl born after spending £60,000 on nine rounds of IVF has celebrated by becoming a children's author after writing helped him during a 'dark place'.

Dale Neal and his wife Marie, from Barrowford, Lancashire, were left devastated when doctors discovered she had already gone through the menopause at just 36 and would never be able to conceive naturally.

Desperate to become a mother, legal secretary Marie, 51, and barber Dale, 50, spent the next decade and thousands of their own money on nine rounds of IVF - finally welcoming baby girl Essie into the world in August 2018.

Now, 17 months later, Dale has published a children's book, My Socks Have Gone Bonkers, to celebrate the journey - after writing stories in the middle of the night helped him during the struggle of fertility. 

He said: 'A few years ago we were in a really dark place, we'd spent most of our money and things were looking like they weren't going to work.

'I had no reason to think I was going to be published and we were becoming more and more helpless with trying to get pregnant.

'So to have them both, a published book, a book deal and our miracle baby is a better happy ending than I could have ever imagined.'

Father-of-one Dale has always had a passion for writing and started sharing his work online when the couple first started IVF in 2012.

Using his creative writing as an escape from the pain of trying and failing to conceive, Dale amassed a collection of short stories and poems for children, which he wrote in the middle of the night on his phone.

Now the passionate writer has brought all of his pieces togetherwhich mixes private and affordable housing side-by-side, is owned by Charles' Duchy of Cornwall estate, into one book illustrated by Mark Millicent.

But after 30 years in the hairdressing industry, Dale still plans to keep his day job while hoping to publish more books in the future.

Dale said: 'There was a therapeutic element too, it was an escape from what was going on because when I'm writing I get so lost in it.

'I do hope that it will be a momento of that time for Essie when she's older because they were all written while we were going through IVF.

'Some of them were written on my mobile phone in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep.'

The couple started their journey into parenthood just before they married in May 2010 after meeting in their hometown in 2000.

But it wasn't until Marie was 39 that doctors had discovered that Marie's irregular periods were a symptom of the fact she had already been through the menopause a few years previously, and would need donor eggs to have any children.  

But by the time they found a donor egg, Marie was 40 and not eligible to have IVF on the NHS.

The pair were forced to reach into their own pockets to make their dreams come true using any spare cash and savings on treatment. 

In total, Marie and Dale battled four failed attempts at IVF, three ectopic pregnancies and two miscarriages over the next five years.

They even travelled to Prague for their final treatments before Marie conceived Essie in December 2017. 

And after a nerve-wracking but successful pregnancy, the tot was born in August 2018 weighing 7lbs 13oz - a perfect addition to their family and have no plans to try for more children.

Marie said: 'I knew it would take a while to get pregnant because of our ages and because I had been on the pill but I didn't think it would happen 10 years later.

'I was never in a real rush or had a strong maternal instinct but when I was told that I couldn't have children I realised how much I wanted them.

'It's cost us a lot of heartache and an absolute fortune but I wouldn't have anything another way.

'Knowing what we have now with Essie I'd do it all again in a heartbeat.'