A British woman has given birth to a healthy baby girl after having her sister’s womb transplanted into her in a UK first that could benefit thousands more women.
Grace Davidson, 36, who was born without a womb, and husband Angus, 37, have described welcoming baby Amy Isabel into the world on the February 27 as ‘the greatest gift we could ever have asked for’.
A team of 20 doctors and nurses were on hand for the caesarean section birth at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in London, in case of complications, but Amy was born healthy weighing 2.06kg (4.5 pounds) and needed no specialist care.
Grace, a dietitian from north London, described holding her baby for the first time as ‘beyond amazing’.
‘It was without any doubt, the best day of our lives. Full of joy, so much happiness and tears,’ she told the Daily Mail.
‘I had longed to be a mum for so long.’
The baby has been named in honour of Grace’s sister Amy Purdie, 42, a mother of two who donated her womb to her sister in February 2023.
Amy endured eight hours of surgery and weeks of recovery to donate her womb but described giving the couple the chance to have a baby as ‘a huge privilege’.
Grace Davidson, who was born without a womb, and husband Angus have welcomed their baby Amy, who is named after Grace’s sister and womb donor Amy Purdie (right)
Baby Amy Isabel (pictured) was welcomed into the world on February 27
The team has now carried out three more womb transplants on women over the past two years, this time using wombs donated by deceased donors
Grace and baby Amy with the medical team who helped deliver her at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in London
Grace, a dietitian from north London, described holding her baby for the first time as ‘beyond amazing’
The baby’s middle name honours Isabel Quiroga, a consultant from the transplantation and endocrine surgery at The Churchill Hospital, Oxford who co-led the marathon 17-hour surgery to extract and implant the donated womb.
Miss Quiroga, who was present at the delivery, broke down in tears in the operating theatre when the couple told her of their name plan.
Professor Richard Smith, a consultant gynaecological surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in London, who co-led the operation with Miss Quiroga said the birth ‘offered new hope for thousands of women in the UK who would otherwise never have the opportunity to experience the joy of motherhood’.
It was also revealed that the team has now carried out three more womb transplants on women over the past two years this time using wombs donated by deceased donors – another UK first.
‘They are all well, menstruating monthly and we are hoping for some pregnancies very soon,’ Professor Smith told the Mail.
The breakthrough could potentially benefit thousands of women in the UK. Around 15,000 women, have Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser Syndrome (MRKH) – as Grace has – a condition of the reproductive system which means women are born with no womb or an under developed womb.
Many other women need their wombs removed due to conditions such endometriosis or cancer.
MRKH (Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser) is a congenital abnormality characterised by the absence of the vagina, womb and cervix
Amy (right) sitting next to sister Grace, who says she and her husband hope to try for one more baby as her womb will be removed within five years
The baby has been named in honour of Grace’s sister Amy Purdie, a mother-of-two who donated her womb to her sister in February 2023
Until now women without a womb wanting to have a family faced having to use a surrogate or adoption.
Grace discovered she had MRKH at the age of 19 and always longed to become a mother but she has had to wait ten years since being accepted on the transplant programme in 2015 to achieve that.
The lengthy holdup was due to the extensive regulatory checks that needed to take place and in part due to the pandemic. A date had been set in 2018 for her to receive a womb donated by her mother but last-minute checks proved it wasn’t suitable.
Grace says she found the delays ‘difficult to deal with’ at times, and that she was slightly overwhelmed when the baby was passed to her.
‘I felt so much joy. I hadn’t allowed myself to think about what that moment might feel like, but it was incredible,’ she says.
Angus, who works in finance told the Mail: ‘It was such a wonderful moment, the most incredible, special day. The team were there celebrating the scientific achievement but they were also celebrating with us on a personal level celebrating the birth.’
The couple hope to try for one more child. The womb will be removed within five years so that Grace can stop taking immunosuppressant medication, which can raise the risk of cancer.
With so much resting on the outcome, Professor Smith says he ‘did not sleep through the night once in the last three months before that baby was born.’
Grace discovered she had MRKH at the age of 19 and always longed to become a mother, she waited ten years since being accepted on the transplant programme in 2015 to achieve that
Baby Amy’s birth was a planned caesarean much before Grace went into labour, it was to avoid putting strain on the transplanted womb and blood vessels
Angus, who works in finance told the Mail: ‘It was such a wonderful moment, the most incredible, special day
The baby was always going to be born by planned caesarean before Grace went into labour to avoid putting strain on the transplanted womb and blood vessels
His main fear was a haemorrhage but in actual fact ‘the pregnancy went unbelievably normally’.
The baby was always going to be born by planned caesarean before Grace went into labour to avoid putting strain on the transplanted womb and blood vessels.
Professor Smith, who founded the Womb Transplant UK charity, spent 26 years working towards this moment, having realised that a technique he developed to remove the womb for those with cervical cancer would allow a womb to be safely extracted and used for donation.
‘Every week I meet women in my clinic who are born without a womb or who have needed their surgically removed and consumed with deep longing to carry their own biological child,’ he says.
‘It is witnessing these women’s pain that has kept me pushing on for 26 years to be able to offer them an option of a womb transplant.’
The charity has permission from the regulatory authorities including The Human Tissue Authority, for two programmes to do 15 womb transplants in total – five from living donors and ten from dead. That means they can carry out four more using live donors and seven more using dead donors.
The deceased donor programme is part of a trial called INSITU being run by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust and if successful they hope the deceased option might then become available on the NHS.
So far, the charity has funded the operations – with the medical staff giving their time for free – but needs to raise another £500,000 to fulfil the full programme. Currently they only have money for two more operations. Each operation involving a live donor will cost £30,000 and each involving a deceased donor costs £25,000.
Grace says she found that waiting for her transplant felt ‘difficult to deal with’ at times, and she was slightly overwhelmed when the baby was passed to her because she hadn’t allowed herself to think about what that moment might feel like
Until now women without a womb wanting to have a family faced having to use a surrogate or adoption
Womb Transplant UK have been contacted by over 500 women wanting to take part in the programme and (others offering to donate their womb).
Only those who qualify for NHS care, who live in the UK and are aged between 24 and 40 (or 42, if their embryos were frozen before the age of 38 – having frozen embryos is another requisite) can be considered as patients for either of the two transplant programmes.
‘I am firmly of the opinion that this is a feasible and cost-effective option and my hope is we can get to the stage of offering a womb transplant on the NHS,’ says Professor Smith.
‘It wont suit everyone as having a womb transplant is a big undertaking.
‘What’s important is that we can offer womb the choice.’
The first womb transplant was performed in Saudi Arabia in 2000 but complications meant the womb had to be removed after three months.
In September 2014 a Swedish woman, Malin Stenberg, became the first person in the world to give birth following a womb transplant after a family friend donated her womb.
Since then, around 100 transplants have been carried out worldwide on women from other countries, resulting in the birth of around 65 healthy babies.
Kate Brintworth, England’s Chief Midwifery Officer, said: ‘I am so delighted that Grace, Angus and their whole family have been able to welcome the miracle of Amy to the world.
‘This is a momentous moment in NHS history, and an example of how we are constantly innovating and embracing the latest medical advancements so patients can benefit from groundbreaking care.
‘Led by specialist teams from across the NHS, we should all be very proud of the health service’s role in this UK first and the hope it will bring to so many women.’
WHAT IS MAYER ROKITANSKY KUSTER HAUSER?
Rokitansky Syndrome, or MRKH (Mayer Rokitansky Küster Hauser), is a congenital abnormality characterised by the absence of the vagina, womb and cervix.
Women suffering from the condition will have normally functioning ovaries, so will experience the normal signs of puberty – but will not have periods or be able to conceive.
The external genatalia are completely normal which is why MRKH isn’t usually discovered until women are in their teenage years.
Rokitansky Syndrome, or MRKH (Mayer Rokitansky Küster Hauser), is a congenital abnormality characterised by the absence of the vagina, womb and cervix
Many women are able to create a vaginal canal using dilation treatment, which uses cylinder shaped dilators of different sizes to stretch the muscles.
However, if this is unsuccessful then surgery will be used to stretch the vaginal canal.
Following treatment women are able to have intercourse and can have their eggs removed and fertilised to be used in surrogacy. However, those without ovaries won’t ever be able to have children because they don’t produce any eggs.
It affects one in 5,000 live female births, according to an 1985 article in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine.
Source: Centre for Disorders of Reproductive Development & Adolescent
