Robyn and husband Alex, from Cornwall, decided to try for a baby nearly 8 years ago, but after a year of trying without getting pregnant, they decided to go to their doctor for further support. Following some tests, Robyn found out she had Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) but was not offered any treatment to help: "It was a really rough road with the doctors, and I just felt like no one was listening."
4 years later, Robyn and Alex changed GP and got a referral to a specialist fertility clinic at the Royal Cornwall Hospital. Robyn was prescribed metformin and clomiphene, and fell pregnant for the first time in 2020. Sadly, this pregnancy ended in miscarriage.
It was a heartbreaking experience, and really bittersweet because on one side I was over the moon I was able to get pregnant, but also utterly devastated that the baby couldn't stay.
Over the next 2 years, Robyn went through more rounds of different medication for PCOS but sadly had a further 3 miscarriages.
Tommy's research
After her fourth miscarriage, the midwives at her early pregnancy unit asked if she had heard of the studies happening in Warwick and Coventry. “I hadn’t heard of Tommy’s or the research going on in Coventry, so they gave me the details and I contacted Dr Brosen’s clinic to get an appointment”.
Robyn travelled up from Cornwall to Coventry to have a biopsy of her womb taken, and it showed an imbalance in the amounts of cells which are important for successful implantation of an embryo. The team at Warwick prescribed her Sitagliptin, a drug that they think can help rebalance these cells.
She and Alex were able to get pregnant, and had their baby in January 2024.
The nurses and midwives and Dr Brosen, everyone has just been brilliant, so kind and down to earth which has made the whole experience so much better. I do think the reason that I've kept this baby so long is because of the test and the treatment that I've received from the team at Coventry.
