Lauren Fowler is 26 weeks pregnant after receiving her sister Kelly’s womb in an 11-hour transplant operation.
Lauren, who was born without a womb due to Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome, appeared on ITV’s This Morning on August 17 alongside her sister Kelly, 34, and her partner David to share their story. Kelly had already given birth to three children of her own when she decided to donate her womb to her younger sister.
“I ended up having two further surgeries due to going into obstruction,” Lauren told hosts Craig Doyle and Angela Scanlon during the broadcast. “It was touch and go. It was a really hard time. Harder than the transplant itself. The transplant was so easy compared to that.”
Lauren was diagnosed with Type 1 MRKH syndrome, a congenital condition affecting approximately 1 in 5,000 women that causes a baby to be born with a missing uterus and an underdeveloped or missing vagina. With Type 1, the ovaries and fallopian tubes function normally, but the uterus, cervix, and upper vagina are absent or blocked.
Despite the post-operative complications, Lauren’s body has shown no signs of rejecting the transplanted womb. Kelly told the hosts that her own children are eagerly anticipating the arrival of their cousin. “The kids are really excited to meet their cousin,” she shared. “And the fact they’ve got that special bond because the shared womb that they would have had.”
The sisters have always been close, but Kelly said the experience has deepened their connection even further. “We’ve always been close anyway but I don’t think we could go through something like we have and it not make a difference and bring us closer together,” she explained on the program.
Lauren had long dreamed of becoming a mother, and Kelly had promised to do “whatever she could” to help her sister achieve that goal. The transplant took place in 2025 after extensive medical evaluation and preparation.
Lauren said she is speaking publicly about her experience to offer hope to young people currently facing the same diagnosis she once did. She wants to give them the “hope she didn’t have at their age,” she told Doyle and Scanlon.
MRKH syndrome typically goes undetected until puberty, when a girl fails to begin menstruating despite otherwise normal development. The Cleveland Clinic notes that symptoms vary by type, with Type 2 also involving issues with the ovaries, fallopian tubes, spine, kidneys, or other organs. Those with the condition may experience pain during first intercourse due to a shorter or narrower vagina.
In the viral moment that brought national attention to their story, the sisters’ emotional appearance on This Morning highlighted both the medical breakthrough and their personal bond. The 11-hour operation represented a significant milestone in UK transplant medicine, following earlier successes in the country’s womb transplant program.
Lauren is due to give birth around mid-October, and the family is counting down the weeks until the arrival.