A COUPLE who started crowdfunding to raise cash to have a baby are celebrating the news they are expecting a child.

Chelsea and Sarah Cruickshank Maltby, of South Bank, Middlesbrough, hit headlines earlier this year when they asked strangers to donate money via GoFundMe to fund private artificial insemination treatment.

They said they felt having a baby was a “human right”.

Following publicity around the couple, several potential sperm donors got in touch offering to help.

Chelsea, 25, said she chose the man who looked most like Sarah, all background checks and medical history were carried out, and she is now five weeks’ pregnant.

She revealed the news on Facebook by uploading a picture of a pregnancy test, and said they were “over the moon”.

She said she had been feeling tired and run-down but said: “We are both very happy and looking forward to the next nine months. Let’s see what the journey holds for us.”

The GoFundMe page is still going, but the couple, who both work, said they had needed to use a penny of it on their treatment, so wanted to keep it going to help other couples.

They initially asked the public to help them raise £7,000 for private artificial insemination treatment after being told they were ineligible to get it on the NHS.

But after raising just a few hundred pounds they were contacted by men wanting to help them by donating.

Chelsea, who first asked for help on the NHS when she was 20 five years ago, said trying to become a mother had been “hard as hell”, but she now has what she always dreamed of.

She says that the publicity around their appeal had really helped to find a sperm donor, as that had been the hardest part.

She added: “I wasn’t definite when I first took the tests as they were too faint to be sure, but we have done one since and it is definitely the done deal.

“I’m not bothered if it is a boy or a girl as long as they are happy.”

The donor who came forward in the end was a male friend. The couple had only raised £235 out of the £7,000 needed for the treatment.

They said they just wanted to focus on their family now, and said they also wanted to help others who couldn’t conceive in a more natural way to get the treatment they needed.

To donate, visit www.gofundme.com/chelsea-and-sarahs-baby-journey