Summer Bay is bracing for heartbreak as one of its most determined couples faces the cruelest twist yet in their dream of becoming parents. Next week on

Home and Away in the UK, Mackenzie Booth and Levi Fowler receive the update they’ve been desperately waiting for — and the results will send emotional

shockwaves through their relationship and beyond. What began as a hopeful step toward the future is about to become a devastating reminder that

love and effort don’t always guarantee the ending you want.

A dream sparked by family

Mackenzie’s longing for a child didn’t arrive out of nowhere. Earlier this year, a visit to Dean, Ziggy and little Izzy in Queensland stirred something profound inside her. Watching the easy intimacy of family life, Mac found herself imagining a different future — one filled with lullabies, sleepless nights, and the chaotic joy of raising a child with Levi.

For Levi, the idea quickly became irresistible too. Together, they leapt in with optimism, convinced that commitment and timing would do the rest.

But weeks passed. Then months. Each test delivered the same crushing answer.

Not yet.

Searching for answers

Refusing to surrender to confusion, the couple turned to science. Fertility tests followed, bringing both dread and hope in equal measure. At least, they reasoned, clarity would give them direction.

When the results came back, they were stunned.

There was nothing wrong.

No medical explanation. No obstacle doctors could easily point to. Physically, they should have been able to conceive. Instead of comfort, the news delivered a different kind of torment — the agony of not knowing why their dream remained out of reach.

Why wasn’t it happening?

A revelation from the past

In her desperation, Mackenzie sought wisdom from her mother, Tanya, hoping family history might reveal what medicine could not. What she received instead was a life-altering truth.

Mac herself had been conceived through IVF.

Suddenly, the struggle took on new meaning. What once felt like failure began to resemble fate — history circling back, asking her to walk the same difficult path her mother once had.

The discovery was emotional, but also clarifying. If this was how her life began, perhaps it was how her child’s would too.

And with that, Mackenzie and Levi committed to IVF.

The brutal beginning of hope

Anyone who believes IVF is a simple solution is about to learn otherwise. The process tests patience, bodies, and relationships. Hormones surged. Emotions frayed. Mackenzie battled side effects that left her exhausted and uncomfortable, while Levi tried — sometimes unsuccessfully — to be the perfect pillar of support.

His constant checking, hovering, and attempts to fix the unfixable occasionally grated on her nerves. Yet beneath the irritation was love. They were in this together, clinging to the same fragile dream.

Then came a breakthrough: seven follicles matured.

Seven possibilities. Seven tiny sparks of potential life.

For the first time in weeks, genuine excitement filled the air.

The day that mattered

Next week, the story reaches its most nerve-shredding stage yet — the egg retrieval. Mackenzie walks into the clinic terrified of disappointment, but Levi remains steady, reminding her that everything so far has gone according to plan.

Afterward, the initial news is encouraging. Seven eggs have been collected.

It’s not a guarantee, but it’s something to hold onto. Something real.

The couple dares to imagine the future again. They whisper about nurseries, about who the baby might look like, about the miracle of even one embryo successfully forming.

They don’t need seven.

They just need one.

The phone call that changes everything

Days later, Mackenzie’s phone rings.

It is the call.

The moment their entire journey has been building toward.

But the voice on the other end doesn’t carry celebration. It carries sympathy.

Not a single embryo has matured.

In an instant, hope evaporates. All the injections, the appointments, the physical pain, the emotional endurance — none of it has delivered the result they so desperately wanted. They are not moving forward.

They are back at the beginning.

Grief inside their own home

The devastation doesn’t hit fully until they return to the house. The door closes behind them, sealing them inside a silence heavier than anything they’ve known. Mackenzie tries to stay upright, tries to be brave, tries to speak.

She can’t.

She collapses into Levi’s arms, sobbing for the future she had already started to picture.

For Levi, the heartbreak is doubled — grief for the baby they didn’t get, and helplessness at being unable to protect the woman he loves from pain.

It is one of the most raw, intimate moments the couple has ever faced.

What happens now?

The question hovering over Summer Bay is unavoidable: can they do this again?

IVF demands resilience that borders on superhuman. It asks couples to gamble hope repeatedly, knowing how catastrophic the loss can feel. Mackenzie and Levi must now decide whether they have the strength — emotionally, physically, financially — to risk another round.

And they must make that decision while still mourning this one.

Why this story matters

Home and Away has never shied away from portraying real-life struggles, and Mackenzie’s fertility battle may be among its most relatable yet. Countless viewers understand the rollercoaster of expectation, medical intervention, and grief. Seeing those emotions handled with honesty gives the storyline enormous power.

It also deepens Mackenzie and Levi’s bond. Tragedy can fracture love — or fortify it.

The coming episodes will reveal which path they take.

A fragile tomorrow

For now, all they can do is hold each other.

The dream isn’t dead, but it is wounded. And healing, as Summer Bay knows well, takes time.

Whether Mackenzie and Levi will find the courage to hope again remains uncertain. But if they do, it will be because they choose to believe that somewhere beyond this heartbreak, a new beginning is still possible.