A Massachusetts woman who struggled with infertility until she had five children has donated her uterus so another woman can have a chance to grow her family.
Aprill Lane, 39, who has five children aged 6 and younger, donated her uterus late last year.
"Infertility, really, aside from the physical effects of it, it emotionally and socially affects you in a huge way," Lane told "Good Morning America," "If I could help one other person be relieved of some of that, I would."
Shortly after Lane and her husband started trying to conceive, she was diagnosed with unexplained infertility. The couple adopted a son, and then had twins through in vitro fertilization.
Surprisingly, Lane got pregnant naturally after the twins -- and then had a fifth baby naturally.
Throughout her fertility treatments and pregnancies, Lane became passionate about infertility awareness, she told Pregnantish.com. She became inspired to start the AGC Scholarship fund, giving grants for everything from fertility treatments to adoption.
Then, Lane heard of uterus transplants being performed at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas.
"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," Lane said. "We knew pretty quickly after I got the call that I was selected [for the trial] that I was going to do it."
Lane traveled from her hometown in the Boston area to Dallas on her own dime. At the end of last year, Lane donated her uterus to an anonymous woman.
"Almost like they’re donating experience," said Dr. Liza Johannesson, Lane's surgeon. "They want someone else to experience pregnancy and giving birth like they did. And I think it’s a beautiful thing."
Two babies have been born from these uterus transplants: one in December 2017 and one in December 2018, WFAA-TV reported.
Lane recalled the recovery process as long and painful, but said she would do it again.
"If I could help just one family, that’s healing for me," Lane added. "[The surgery] is short-lived and my recipient has her whole life thinking she can’t carry children, so for eight weeks of feeling [bad], it’s worth it."
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