In a remarkable medical milestone, a woman has become the first in the UK to give birth following a womb transplant.
Grace Davidson, 36, who was born without a uterus due to a rare condition, described the birth of her daughter as “the greatest gift we could ever have asked for” for her and her husband, Angus, 37.
Their five-week-old daughter has been named Amy Isabel – a tribute to Grace’s sister, Amy Purdie, who donated her womb during an eight-hour operation in 2023, and surgeon Isabel Quiroga, who helped refine the transplant technique.
Davidson gave birth to Amy Isabel via planned caesarean section on 27 February at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in London. She admitted feeling overwhelmed when she first held her daughter. “It was just hard to believe she was real. I knew she was ours, but it’s just hard to believe,” she said.
The couple had always held “a quiet hope” that the transplant would allow them to start a family, but Davidson said it only truly felt real once their daughter arrived.
The success of the transplant offers renewed hope to women who are born without a womb or whose wombs do not function. In addition to Davidson’s case, three other womb transplants have been carried out in the UK using deceased donors, and doctors are hopeful that those recipients will also go on to have children.
Womb Transplant UK, the charity supporting the programme, has approval for 10 deceased donor and five living donor transplants. Although about 10 women are currently going through the approval process for the £25,000 procedure, hundreds more have expressed interest. The charity hopes that the NHS may eventually fund such operations.
The birth marks the culmination of 25 years of research led by Professor Richard Smith, clinical lead at Womb Transplant UK. Smith was present in the operating theatre when Amy Isabel, weighing 2.04kg (4.5lb), was born.
“I feel great joy actually, unbelievable – 25 years down the line from starting this Read More….
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