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Health

25th Mar 2019

Mum-of-five donates her uterus to couple experiencing infertility

Melissa Carton

A mother in America gave one couple the ultimate gift.

Aprill Lane, a mother of five, donated her uterus to a couple experiencing fertility issues because she wanted to give another woman a chance to carry a baby as she did.

The 39-year-old mother struggled at first herself to conceive and adopted her first child before successfully falling pregnant with her other children.

When Ms Lane heard that Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas was performing clinical trials at the time regarding uterus transplants, she knew it was something that she wanted to do.

Speaking to ABC News she said;

“My husband and I both felt like our family-building had been resolved but we weren’t necessarily resolved with building a family for someone else. We knew pretty quickly after I got the call that I was selected that I was going to do it.”

Uterus transplants can be given to those born without a uterus or women who have uterus related complications resulting in infertility issues. Once a candidate is chosen they can use the uterus until they have one or two children before having it removed. The reason for removal is to prevent the receiver from having to take anti-rejection medication for the rest of their life.

Aprill, who is heavily involved in the infertility community, had a successful operation and donated her uterus soon after its removal. She does not know who received her uterus as all recipients remain anonymous.

The mother of five is one of the 15 women who has donated their uterus at the medical centre so far and she hopes that in the future many more will do the same.