IVF Moms, You Owe Your Family To The Recently Deceased Lesley Brown

Mothers who have achieved the family that they’ve always wanted through IVF have quite a few people to thank for that modern possibility. But one of them is certainly mother-of-two Lesley Brown, the first woman to successfully conceive with IVF who passed away this week.

Lesley reportedly gave birth to IVF’s first successfully conceived baby in 1978, a baby girl named Louise. After another round of IVF, Lesley and her husband welcomed a second daughter named Natalie. The family had been trying to expand their family for nine years with no luck due to Lesley’s blocked fallopian tubes. She received IVF treatments by Dr Patrick Steptoe and Professor Robert Edwards, breaking her infertility spell.

But despite Lesley’s pivotal role in a treatment now crucial to so many mothers, she is described by her daughter Louise as a bit of a wallflower:

“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.”

Make that a historic wallflower.

(photo: Monkey Business Images/ Shutterstock)