'It's a big, proud mom moment': Mom of 5 donates uterus to anonymous woman

Friday, March 22, 2019
Mom of 5 donates uterus to anonymous woman
Once her family was complete, Aprill Lane wanted to help someone else become a mom.

DALLAS, Texas -- Aprill Lane knows exactly what it's like to face fertility issues.

"It's heavy," Lane told ABC affiliate WFAA. "It's a huge burden as a female feeling like you are failing the one part of you that you're meant to do."

Lane says she and her husband were diagnosed with infertility. They adopted a son, had twins through in vitro fertilization, and surprisingly, got pregnant naturally twice.

With five kids under the age of seven, Lane decided she wanted to give someone else a chance to be a mother.

"We all have these trials and tribulations. It's our job to give back in any capacity, in any way that we can," Lane said.

At the end of last year, Lane donated her uterus to an anonymous woman as part of a clinical trial at Baylor University Medical Center.

"Almost like they're donating experience. They want someone else to experience pregnancy and giving birth like they did. And I think it's a beautiful thing," Dr. Liza Johannesson said.

Dr. Johannesson has played a major role in these clinical trials since they started at Baylor University Medical Center in 2016. And over the past two years, WFAA has reported on at least two babies successfully born from a transplanted uterus.

"Our big next part is that we want to expand this. We want this to reach out to more women. It's been a very secluded group of women so far but we want everyone to be able to benefit from this," Dr. Johannesson said.

And for the 39-year-old donor, she counts each of her five blessings every single day.

"Now they're understanding of what we did together and what we did for someone else. It's a big proud mom moment," Aprill said.