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Claire Pape had only one period at the age of 13 when she went through menopause. This started when she experienced hot sweats and mood swings, but her parents thought it was just puberty.
She was tested after her first period, and the tests revealed that she was indeed going through menopause.
At the age of 17, Pape was told that she would not be able to have children.
Pape who lives in Beverley, East York, UK, is a proud mother to 15-year-old Louie and five-year-old Isabelle at the age of 43, thanks to egg donation.
She shared her story to give other women with premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) hope.
She shared how heart-breaking it was for her to have only one period before her 14th birthday due to her ovaries that stopped functioning. However, she says that she learned to accept this over time as it was not going away.
Read: Grandma carries her own grandchild after doctors tell her daughter pregnancy would kill her
Going through this experience as a teenager felt lonely for Pape because none of her friends could relate to what she was going through.
Pape says that she was taking hormone replacement therapy from the age of 17, while most girls her age did not even know about this condition.
Her troubles did not end there. Pape had a round of IVF in 2014, but it failed.
The next round was a success, and her eldest child Louie was born. She tried once more, and she miscarried twins and suffered an ectopic pregnancy.
She tried three more rounds of IVF after a few years, and her second-born was conceived after she paid a hefty price of £15,500 or at least R305 804,31.
Although Pape had to go through all this before she became a mom of two, she wants people to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Source: Metro
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