‘Glimmer of hope’ for Cheshire woman born without womb

Hannah Vaughan found out she had Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome when she was 16 – a condition which resulted in her being born without a womb and unable to have periods.

The diagnosis left Hannah, now 24 and living in Tarporley, feeling 'isolated' and 'different'.

She told the PA news agency: “That’s not a nice feeling at that age because I was still becoming me and have always wanted to have children and would always talk about it.

“Even though I had lots of people around me, I still felt isolated.

“At that age, I thought I could put it to the back of my mind a little bit because I’m not ready just yet, but at the same time – it still affected me every day and I had counselling at the time.”

MRKH affects about one in every 5,000 women, including a 34-year-old who was reported to be the first person in the UK to receive a womb transplant, from her sister, at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford.

Miss Vaughan said news of the transplant was 'amazing' to hear as she was told about it early on in her diagnosis, but thought it was 'unlikely' to have happened by the time she was ready to start planning to have children.

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Hannah Vaughan and partner Luke Seddon-Rimmer live in Tarporley, Cheshire (Image: PA)

“I’m just so unbelievably happy for that woman – bless her,” she said.

“It just gives you that glimmer of hope that if that opportunity is there and I am able to do that safely and successfully, I would not even think twice about doing that.”

Miss Vaughan has been with her partner, Luke Seddon-Rimmer, for nearly three years.

They are in the process of starting their in vitro fertilisation (IVF) journey after initial tests found that she had a 'quite low ovarian reserve', which means that she has a lower number of eggs in the ovaries than expected for her age.

Miss Vaughan, who works in social care, said she would 'love' to have a child with Mr Seddon-Rimmer, whom she said reacted to her condition 'very well'.

“Having a child of my own and carrying my own child would be the most incredible thing in the whole world for me”, she added.

“Unless you have MRKH or have an experience with something which may reduce your chances of having your own children, it is hard to understand what it is like."

Miss Vaughan’s GoFundMe page, which aims to fund her IVF treatment, can be found here: gofundme.com/f/luke-hannahs-ivf-journey.