Mother of world's first ever test tube baby has died aged 64
Filed under: Getting pregnant
PA IVF pioneer Professor Robert Edwards, Lesley Brown, with her daughter Louise Brown and her son Cameron in 2008
Lesley, who made medical history on July 25 1978, when she gave birth to her daughter Louise, died from septicemia on June 6 after being admitted to hospital with gallstones.
She and her husband John had been trying for a baby for nine years when they were referred for potential In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatment, when eggs are fertilised with sperm outside the body and implanted into the womb. Lesley's blocked fallopian tubes meant getting pregnant naturally was impossible for her.
Lesley, from Bristol, agreed to the experimental procedure, pioneered by Professor Bob Edwards and Dr Patrick Steptoe in Cambridge. Amazingly, the ground-breaking technique worked the first time for the couple - and their lives were changed forever.
They also needed only one cycle to conceive their second daughter, Natalie, four years later. Although Dr Steptoe died in 1988, Louise remains close to Professor Edwards.
Since then more than three million babies have been born worldwide using the same technique.
Lesley died at the Bristol Royal Infirmary following a short illness and leaves step-daughter Sharon and daughters Louise and Natalie and five grandchildren. Her husband, John, passed away five years ago.
Her daughter Louise said:
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Mum was a very quiet and private person who ended up in the world spotlight because she wanted a family so much. We are all missing her terribly.
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Speaking on behalf of Professor Edwards and the team at Bourn Hall Clinic, Mike Macamee, CEO, said: "Lesley was a devoted mum and grandmother and through her bravery and determination many millions of women have been given the chance to become mothers. She was a lovely gentle lady and we will all remember her with deep affection."
Speaking in 2008 Mrs Brown said she had felt so desperate to have a baby, she was willing to put up with anything to give birth.
Although other women had been implanted with fertilised eggs, Mrs Brown was the first to achieve a pregnancy which went beyond a few weeks.
Nevertheless, there were some who feared the baby would be abnormal and it was only after Louise's birth on July 25, 1978, that minds could be put at rest.
PA Louise Joy Brown at three days old
Annoucing Louise's headline-making birth, Dr Steptoe said: "All examinations showed that the baby is quite normal."
Celebrity parents’ fertility struggles
- Chantelle Houghton and Alex Reid<p> After admitting she was worried crash dieting had left her infertile, Chantelle announced she was <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2011/11/15/chantelle-houghton-pregnant-with-alex-reid-baby/" target="_blank">pregnant</a> with boyfriend, Alex Reid’s baby, after a whirlwind romance of just six months. The couple were set to try IVF when they announced the happy news that they had conceived naturally. In the past, Alex had admitted to having his sperm count tested after struggling to conceive with ex-wife, Katie Price.</p> <p> <strong>Chantelle says:</strong> “Oh my God! I'm pregnant. Let me through - I'm going to be the yummiest mummy there is. I'm milking it, trust me. I've told my friends and family, if I'm going through it, you're all going through it."</p>
- Julia Bradbury<p> Countryfile presenter Julia didn’t think she would ever be a <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2011/02/28/julia-bradbury-miracle-baby-for-tv-star-at-40/" target="_blank">mum</a> after being diagnosed with endometriosis at 33. But she conceived her first child, <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2011/08/04/julia-bradbury-gives-birth-to-baby-son-and-youll-never-guess/" target="_blank">Zephyr</a> with her boyfriend, Gerard Cunningham at 41, and is over the moon to finally be a mum.</p> <p> <strong>Julia says:</strong> “I have endometriosis. Because of this condition, I wasn't sure if I would ever realise my ambition to be a mum, so it all feels like a bit of a miracle.”</p>
- Kate Silveton<p> Kate and her husband, Michael Herron, finally <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2011/11/06/kate-silverton-gives-birth-to-first-baby/" target="_blank">became parents</a> on 5<sup>th</sup> November 2011, after conceiving naturally following four failed rounds of IVF. The couple welcomed their ‘miracle’ baby, Clemency, and made us all coo by proudly sharing some <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2011/11/11/first-pic-proud-mum-kate-silverton-shows-off-new-baby-clemency/" target="_blank">very cute shots</a> of the little lady.</p> <p> <strong>Kate says:</strong> “This baby is the closest it gets to a miracle for me. Mike and I resigned ourselves to being childless. We felt desperately sad about it but, as a positive person, my philosophy was that everyone faces challenges in life, and very often much worse than ours.”</p>
- Brooke Shields<p> Brooke conceived her eldest daughter, Rowan after six rounds of IVF and a miscarriage. At 40, three years after giving birth to Rowan, she got the shock of her life when she conceived her second daughter, Grier, naturally.</p>
- Gabby and Kenny Logan<p> Sports presenter Gabby and her husband, Kenny welcomed twins Lois and Reuben following IVF treatment after a three year battle with ‘unexplained infertility’. Gabby recently revealed she has <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2011/09/26/gabby-logan-pregnancy-dilemma-should-i-use-stored-embryos-to-have-baby/" target="_blank">embryos in storage,</a> but the couple say they are undecided about using them for more IVF treatment to try for another baby.</p> <p> <strong>Gabby says:</strong> “We both wanted to be quite young parents. We are both very positive people, so we didn’t really get down when nothing happened. Every month, when I realised I wasn’t pregnant, I’d think, 'Oh well, next month will be fine.' Sometimes I’d have a couple of days of feeling defeated, but I soon moved on.”</p>
- Mariah Carey<p> <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2011/02/02/mariah-carey-pregnancy-its-girl-and-a-boy/" target="_blank">Mariah and husband, Nick Cannon</a> are now proud parents to twins, <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2011/05/04/mariah-careys-twins-names-revealed/" target="_blank">Moroccan and Monroe,</a> but the path to parenthood wasn’t easy for the pair. Back in 2008, Mariah suffered a miscarriage and afterwards started fertility treatment to help her conceive and carry her baby to full term. The result? Her gorgeous twins, who mum and dad, of course, dote on.</p>
- Marcia Cross<p> Desperate Housewives star Marcia always wanted to be mum, even before she married now-hubby, Tom Mahoney. Having struggled with fertility in the past, Marcia and Tom conceived twins, Savannah and Eden, through IVF, and welcomed her longed-for girls in 2007.</p> <p> <strong>Marcia says:</strong> “We decided to skip our honeymoon and try In Vitro after the wedding. I had already been through infertility treatments. It’s very, very difficult to get pregnant in your 40s. It’s costly and tough on your body and your relationship.”</p>
- Trinny Woodall<p> Feisty Trinny from What Not To Wear tried IVF nine times before welcoming daughter Lila with now ex-husband, Johnny Elichaoff. Welcoming Lila, the overjoyed new mum couldn’t hide her excitement, saying: “I'm so happy, I can't tell you how overjoyed I am.”</p>
- Helena Bonham Carter<p> After having her first child, Billy Ray, with partner, Tim Burton, Helena and Tim struggled to conceive again and tried the fertility drug, Clomid. She had terrible side effects, she went on to try acupuncture and finally fell pregnant naturally with her daughter, Nell, who was born in 2007.</p> <p> <strong>Helena says:</strong> “Obviously, you don't know what you'd do unless you were actually in that situation. I think we might have gone for a round of IVF, but that would have been that. There was an argument for just having one child, because we thought if that's the way it's meant to be, so be it."</p>
- Celine Dion<p> Songstress Celine tried for six years before conceiving her son, René-Charles, in 2001 with husband, René Angélil. She then went on to have six failed rounds of IVF, and a miscarriage before welcoming her twin boys, Eddy and Nelson in 2010.</p>
- Courtney Cox<p> Courtney suffered multiple miscarriages when she was trying to conceive naturally with her husband, David Arquette. After IVF success she welcomed her daughter, Coco just days before her 40<sup>th</sup> birthday.</p> <p> <strong>Courtney says:</strong> “I can't imagine life without having a child. Coco is everything to me. I had problems getting pregnant, we did IVF and it was tough.”</p>
- Chris and Natasha Evans<p> DJ Chris and wife, Natasha are <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2011/11/27/chris-evans-and-wife-natasha-expecting-second-child-IVF-ectopic/" target="_blank">expecting their second baby together</a> – after an ectopic pregnancy and IVF treatment. The couple are already proud parents to Noah, two and Chris is also dad to older daughter, Jade, from a previous relationship. Announcing the happy news, Chris said Natasha had suffered secondary infertility after having Noah, and then went on to lose a baby through an ectopic pregnancy, before turning to IVF.</p> <p> <strong>Chris says:</strong> “Tash's first pregnancy was practically textbook, so naively we thought a follow-up kid would be a cinch. Not so, however. Tash did fall pregnant 18 months ago but the pregnancy became ectopic, we lost the baby and, quite frankly, we almost lost my wife.”</p>
- Emma Thompson<p> After years spent trying to conceive naturally, Emma tried IVF for the first time at 40. She welcomed her daughter, Gaia, with her long-term partner, Greg Wise, and then later adopted a Rwandan refugee called Tindy.</p> <p> <strong>Emma says:</strong> “There's been an awful lot of grief to get through in not being able to get pregnant again, but there are thousands and thousands of women like me who can't have children.”</p>
- Hugh Jackman<p> Hollywood’s Hugh Jackman was left devastated when he and his wife Debra were told they had fertility problems, and tried IVF before having two miscarriages. The couple instead adopted two children, Oscar, 11 and <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2011/11/02/hugh-jackman-does-the-school-run/" target="_blank">Ava, six.</a></p> <p> <strong>Hugh says:</strong> "It was painful. We thought we'd have a kid or two biologically and then adopt. Obviously, biologically wasn't the way we were meant to have children. I don't think of them as adopted - they are our children."</p>
- Nicole Kidman<p> Nicole and country singer Keith Urban struggled to conceive baby number two when their first, Sunday Rose, was two. They opted for a surrogate mum to carry their baby, and welcomed baby Faith in December 2010. Nicole got stick when she announced Faith’s birth for referring to the surrogate mum as a ‘gestational carrier’ but later defended her comments, saying: “We were trying to be accurate. The term ‘gestational carrier’ is used if it’s your biological child and if it isn’t, then you use ‘surrogate.”</p> <p> <strong>Nicole says:</strong> "Anyone that's been in the place of wanting another child or wanting a child knows the disappointment, the pain and the loss that you go through trying and struggling with fertility. Fertility is such a big thing, and it's not something I've ever run away from talking about."</p>
- Penny Lancaster and Rod Stewart<p> Aging rocker Rod and wife, Penny tried for two years to give their son Alastair a sibling, finally conceiving baby <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2011/02/17/rod-stewart-and-penny-lancaster-have-baby-boy/" target="_blank">Aiden</a> through <a href="http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2010/09/13/rod-stewart-and-penny-lancaster-ivf-battle-baby/" target="_blank">IVF</a>, after trying treatment in both the UK and America. The couple say seeing Alastair’s face when they announced that Penny was pregnant made all the stress of fertility treatment worthwhile.</p> <p> <strong>Rod says:</strong> “IVF can be stressful, especially for the woman with all the hormone injections and procedures. I said to Penny, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll just keep trying’”.</p>
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