MEET THE FOUNDERS
GEORGIA SARGENT
Hi, I'm Georgia, and I was born without a womb.
At 16, after various tests, scans, hospital appointments to specialists in London, I heard the words that no 16 year old wants to hear “you won’t be able to carry a child in the future”. It’s hard to digest when as a teenager you’re trying to be anything but different.
I spent most of my teens and early 20s ignoring it and trying to not let my condition define my life, which is easy to do when “baby talk” isn’t the topic of convo in early adulthood.
Back in 2023, I remember switching on This Morning to hear the news of the first baby being born in the UK via womb transplant. This is something I was told 10 years prior “wouldn’t happen in my lifetime”. It gave me hope.
Fast forward 3 years and several rounds of IVF, I am now in a position to receive a womb transplant to finally begin my family.
IVF for women born with MRKH is still not funded (or limited funding) which led me to think there must be girls out there that just simply can’t start a family due to the costs. I spent nearly £50,000 alone on IVF, and am aware of the fortunate position I’m in. We decided to create The Hope Trimester Trust to help take the financial burden away from becoming a parent for women with MRKH and their partners.
There are costs at almost every step of the way (from testing, to IVF, to potential surrogacy) and to know we’ve lightened the load for women like us is our mission.
MEET THE FOUNDERS
BETTY MUKHERJEE
Hi, I'm Betty, and I was also born without a womb!
At 16, I was diagnosed with MRKH (Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome). Being told you have no uterus, and wouldn't have the 'normal route to parenthood, while everything else about you is completely ‘typical' is a tough one to get a teenage head around!
No leaflet, no map, no one to tell me what it would cost to still become a mum one day - because for most of us with MRKH, the real barrier to parenthood isn't medicine, it's money. Surrogacy, egg storage, donor conception, adoption, even uterus transplantation - every route comes with a price tag most of us are handed before we've even started saving for it.
Everything changed when I appeared on BBC's Race Across the World with my brother and started talking about MRKH publicly. The messages that followed showed me how many of us are quietly asking the same question: how do I build a family when the path everyone else takes for granted was never open to me?
That's why I started The Hope Trimester Trust - to help fund family-building for girls and women with MRKH, so a diagnosis at 16 doesn't have to become a closed door at 30 because of what's in someone's bank account. A trimester is a stage on the way to something. That's what I want this Trust to give every girl who comes to it: real, funded momentum toward the family she wants.
I'm learning out loud, same as always, and this is for every one of us who's done the maths on parenthood and felt the ground disappear. If that's you, this is for you. If it's not, thank you for helping us get her there anyway.
Betty x