Mum agrees to carry future grandchild following daughter's loss of reproductive organs
A woman who lost her reproductive organs as a child has asked her mum to act as a surrogate and give birth to her own grandchild.
Jasmine Bowley, 21, was seven when she developed a type of cancer called Pelvic Ewing’s Sarcoma, which affected her ovaries, Fallopian tubes and womb.
After meeting her partner Daniel, 27, she started to question if the treatment she’d undergone could affect her ability to have children.
The couple, from Norwich, Norfolk, were keen to have a biological child and initially tried hormone replacement therapy with a view to having IVF, but sadly the treatment failed, leaving them devastated.
Thankfully, Jasmine's mum, Sabrina, 39, has volunteered to carry a baby, which will be conceived using Daniel's sperm and a donor egg, for the couple.
But now they need to raise £20,000 to complete their dream family.
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“I feel like it's the only and biggest thing I can do for my daughter and her partner,” says Jasmine’s mum Sabrina. “To give them the gift of life would make all my dreams and her's come true.
“I'm truly proud of my daughter and how far she has got in life despite everything she has gone through.
“People have been telling me that I'm a wonderful and amazing mum for agreeing to do this but I'm not.
“I'm just helping my daughter out like any other mum would. It just so happens that in this instance I'm going to help her become a mum.”
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Jasmine was diagnosed with Pelvic Ewings Sarcoma aged just seven and bravely beat the disease.
But her Fallopian tubes and ovaries were removed during surgery to remove the cancer while radiotherapy damaged her womb.
Having dreamt of becoming a mum for most of her life, the only option available to Jasmine was hormone replacement therapy which would hopefully encourage her womb to grow and allow her to become a mum via IVF.
But the treatment failed to stimulate growth in Jasmine's womb leaving her with little option but to apply for surrogacy privately at a cost of £20,000.
“If the hormone replacement therapy had worked I would have been able to have had an artificial insemination,” Jasmine explains.
“Becoming a mum would be a dream come true for me and something I've always wanted.”
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Following a heart-to-heart chat, the family decided that the only way Jasmine's dream could come true would be through having a surrogacy privately - and that mum-of-four, Sabrina would be the surrogate.
“We were told when she was younger that Jasmine would probably be unable to have children but as the years went on we always clung to hope.
“When we realised we had no other option than to go privately it was spoken about who would be the surrogate and, after a long conversation between the three of us, I offered to do it.
“It only seemed right and best for me to do it and I have had other pregnancies all healthy and fine.
“It's the gift of life and I want to help in anyway I can.”
Jasmine, Daniel and Sabrina plan to raise the £20,000 needed for the procedure before Sabrina undergoes IVF to become pregnant using Daniel's sperm and a donor egg.
Legally, when Sabrina gives birth she and Daniel will be the parent's at the time of birth but Jasmine and Daniel have said they will apply for a parental order to allow Jasmine to become the baby's legal mother
Jasmine, Sabrina and Daniel have all said they will be completely open and honest with their child and grandchild about their birth.
So far, Jasmine, Daniel and Sabrina say their decision has been met with nothing but love and support about their journey to become parents.
“All of our friends and family have been so supportive,” Jasmine says.
“Becoming a mum will be everything to me, it will complete my life.”
Read more: How to become a surrogate mother in the UK
A spokesman for Surrogacy UK said: “Surrogacy is a beautiful way to create a family - full of trust, friendship and love and surrogacy teams made up of friends, or family members are common in the UK.
“Luckily for those intended parents who don't have a friend or family member to help, more and more surrogates are coming forward every day, whose dream it is to carry a surrogacy pregnancy.
“Around 400 babies a year in the UK are created through surrogacy, and as it becomes a more acceptable way to have a baby, it is only set to increase.
“In the UK, openness, honesty and lifelong friendships are encouraged, so the children born are lucky to have parents that love them, but also a loving relationship with their surrogate too.
“The IVF postcode lottery means that anyone undergoing fertility treatment in the UK may have to self fund, however surrogacy IVF is usually much more expensive than normal IVF. This means that intended parents have to save thousands of pounds before they can even start on their journey.
“Not only are intended parents dealing with not being able to carry their own child, they have the added pressure of financial infertility too.
“SurrogacyUK wish Jasmine, Daniel and Sabrina all the best for their upcoming surrogacy journey, and we very much hope to be able to congratulate them very soon.”
Sabrina is raising money for the surrogacy on GoFundMe.
