Cancer survivor whose uterus was surgically repositioned inside of her gives birth to baby
An Israeli woman has delivered a healthy baby after undergoing a rare procedure that involved relocating her uterus to preserve her fertility during cancer treatments.
The operation — performed only a handful of times worldwide — is opening new doors for young women whose fight to survive often shuts them out of motherhood.
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4 The healthy baby was recently delivered via C-section in Petah Tikva, Israel.
Rattanachat – stock.adobe.com
The patient, identified only as 'A,' is a woman in her early 30s who was diagnosed several years ago with stage 3 colorectal cancer.
Doctors told her she'd need pelvic radiation to beat the disease — but the treatment threatened to permanently damage her uterus and thwart any chance of future pregnancy.
So she made an unthinkable choice — and moved her womb out of the line of fire.
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During a six-hour operation, doctors detached her uterus and ovaries from her pelvis and sutured them into her upper abdomen, just above the navel.
'The orientation of the uterus does not change,' said Dr. Ram Eitan, director of the Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Rabin Beilinson Medical Center, who performed the surgery in 2022.
'We had pushed the boundaries of medicine to the maximum.' Dr. Ram Eitan, director of the Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Rabin Beilinson Medical Center
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'The cervix remains facing downward as it was in the pelvis. This is maintained to prevent kinking of the blood supply to the organ,' he told The Post.
Because of the procedure's complexity, a surgical robot was used for greater precision — crucial to ensure the uterus would remain functional for pregnancy.
4 Pelvic radiation therapy can inflict irreversible damage to the uterus that can permanently affect a woman's fertility.
megaflopp – stock.adobe.com
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About four months after completing radiation treatments, the woman underwent a second operation — this time in New York, in partnership with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, to return her uterus to its natural position.
'She is completely cancer free,' Eitan said.
When she called to say she was pregnant, it was an 'incredibly emotional moment,' he recalled.
'We realized we had pushed the boundaries of medicine to the maximum,' said Eitan, who also delivered the baby by C-section.
'It is rare and deeply inspiring to see a woman who has faced cancer, radiation and uterine transposition — and still manages to conceive and bring life into the world,' he added.
4 Risks of uterine transposition surgery involve potential loss of the uterus and hysterectomy.
Yakobchuk Olena – stock.adobe.com
The uterine transposition technique was first pioneered in Brazil. To date, only about 18 women worldwide have had the procedure — and the Israeli patient is just the sixth to give birth afterward.
Memorial Sloan Kettering performed the first uterine transposition in the US in December 2020, on a woman diagnosed with rectal cancer just before her 27th birthday.
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Since then, only a few other US hospitals — including Johns Hopkins and the Miami Cancer Institute — have begun offering the cutting-edge procedure.
In March 2024, Dana Vergara became the first American woman to give birth following the surgery, also at Memorial Sloan Kettering.
4 Dana Vergara (pictured) was the first person in the US to deliver a baby after her uterus was repositioned during cancer treatment.
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
'He's been a little champ. A totally healthy baby,' Vergara said of her son, Hudson. 'The doctor is so impressed and has no concerns.'
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While cancer rates have fallen across most age groups in the US, they're steadily rising among young women by 1% to 2% each year, according to Johns Hopkins.
This increase includes gynecological cancers like cervical and endometrial, as well as gastrointestinal cancers such as colorectal — many of which require pelvic radiation as part of treatment.
Experts say this trend is likely to boost demand for fertility-saving procedures like uterine transposition.
'I'd do that surgery again in a heartbeat,' Vergara said. 'And I'd recommend it to any woman in a similar situation.'
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San Francisco Chronicle
3 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Gangs and merchants sell food aid in Gaza, where Israel's offensive has shattered security
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It's impossible to know how much is being diverted, but neither group is able to track who receives its aid. In the melees surrounding aid distributions in recent weeks, residents say the strong were best positioned to come away with food. Mohammed Abu Taha, who lives in a tent with his wife and child near the city of Rafah, said organized gangs of young men are always at the front of crowds when he visits GHF sites. 'It's a huge business,' he said. The U.N. says up to 100,000 women and children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, aid groups and media outlets say their own staffers are going hungry, and Gaza's Health Ministry says dozens of Palestinians have died from hunger-related causes in the last three weeks. When the U.N. gets Israeli permission to distribute aid, its convoys are nearly always attacked by armed gangs or overwhelmed by hungry crowds in the buffer zone controlled by the military. The U.N.'s World Food Program said last week it will only be able to safely deliver aid to the most vulnerable once internal security is restored — likely only under a ceasefire. 'In the meantime, given the urgent need for families to access food, WFP will accept hungry populations taking food from its trucks, as long as there is no violence,' spokesperson Abeer Etifa said. In the alternative delivery system operated by GHF, an American contractor, Palestinians often run a deadly gantlet. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops while seeking food since May, mainly near the GHF sites, according to the U.N. human rights office, witnesses and local health officials. The military says it has only fired warning shots when people approach its forces, while GHF says its security contractors have only used pepper spray or fired in the air on some occasions to prevent stampedes. 'You have to be strong and fast' A man in his 30s, who insisted on anonymity for fear of reprisal, said he had visited GHF sites about 40 times since they opened and nearly always came back with food. He sold most of it to merchants or other people in order to buy other necessities for his family. Heba Jouda, who has visited the sites many times, said armed men steal aid as people return with it and merchants also offer to buy it. 'To get food from the American organization, you have to be strong and fast," she said. Footage shot by Palestinians at GHF sites and shared broadly shows chaotic scenes, with crowds of men racing down fenced-in corridors and scrambling to grab boxes off the ground. GHF says it has installed separate lanes for women and children and is ramping up programs to deliver aid directly to communities. The U.N.'s deliveries also often devolve into deadly violence and chaos, with crowds of thousands rapidly overwhelming trucks in close proximity to Israeli troops. The U.N. does not accept protection from Israel, saying it prefers to rely on community support. The Israeli military did not respond to emails seeking comment about the reselling of aid. Israel denies allowing looters to operate in areas it controls and accuses Hamas of prolonging the war by not surrendering. 'There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza,' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday. The situation changed dramatically in March For much of the war, U.N. agencies were able to safely deliver aid, despite Israeli restrictions and occasional attacks and theft. Hamas-led police guarded convoys and went after suspected looters and merchants who resold aid. During a ceasefire earlier this year, Israel allowed up to 600 aid trucks to enter daily. There were no major disruptions in deliveries, and food prices were far lower. The U.N. said it had mechanisms in place to prevent any organized diversion of aid. But Israel says Hamas was siphoning it off, though it has provided no evidence of widespread theft. That all changed in March, when Israel ended the ceasefire and halted all imports, including food. Israel seized large parts of Gaza in what it said was a tactic to pressure Hamas into releasing hostages abducted in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war. As the Hamas-run police vanished from areas under Israeli control, local tribes and gangs — some of which Israel says it supports — took over, residents say. Israel began allowing a trickle of aid to enter in May. GHF was set up that month with the stated goal of preventing Hamas from diverting aid. Since then, Israel has allowed an average of about 70 trucks a day, compared to the 500-600 the U.N. says are needed. The military said Saturday it would allow more trucks in — 180 entered Sunday — and international airdrops have resumed, which aid organizations say are largely ineffective. Meanwhile, food distribution continues to be plagued by chaos and violence, as seen near GHF sites or around U.N. trucks. Even if Israel pauses its military operations during the day, it's unclear how much the security situation will improve. With both the U.N. and GHF, it's possible Hamas members are among the crowds. In response to questions from The Associated Press, GHF acknowledged that but said its system prevents the organized diversion of aid. 'The real concern we are addressing is not whether individual actors manage to receive food, but whether Hamas is able to systematically control aid flows. At GHF sites, they cannot,' it said. Hamas has denied stealing aid. It's unclear if it's involved in the trade in aid, but its fighters would be taking a major risk by operating in a coordinated way in Israeli military zones that U.N. trucks pass through and where GHF sites are located. The UN says the only solution is a ceasefire U.N. officials have called on Israel to fully lift the blockade and flood Gaza with food. That would reduce the incentive for looting by ensuring enough for everyone and driving down prices. Another ceasefire would include a major increase in aid and the release of Israeli hostages, but talks have stalled. Hamas started the war when its fighters stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 hostages. Fifty captives are still being held in Gaza. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 59,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up more than half the dead. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and is run by medical professionals. Israel has disputed its figures without providing its own.
USA Today
11 hours ago
- USA Today
Two rights groups are first Israeli voices to accuse Israel of genocide
Two Israeli rights groups said Israel was carrying out "coordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza strip." JERUSALEM − Two Israeli human rights organizations said Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, the first major voices in Israeli society to level the strongest possible accusation against the state, which vehemently denies it. Rights group B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel released their reports at a July 28 press conference in Jerusalem, saying Israel was carrying out "coordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza strip." "The report we are publishing today is one we never imagined we would have to write," said B'Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak. "The people of Gaza have been displaced, bombed and starved, left completely stripped of their humanity and rights." More: One meal a day. $20 for an egg. Choosing which kid gets fed. Starvation stalks Gaza Physicians for Human Rights Israel focused on damage to Gaza's healthcare system, saying: "Israel's actions have destroyed Gaza's healthcare infrastructure in a manner that is both calculated and systematic". Israel has fended off accusations of genocide since the early days of the Gaza war, including a case brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice in the Hague that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned as "outrageous". A spokesperson for the Israeli government called the allegation made by the rights groups on Monday "baseless." More: 'Children look very hungry': Trump rejects Netanyahu's claim of no starvation in Gaza "There is no intent, (which is) key for the charge of genocide ... it simply doesn't make sense for a country to send in 1.9 million tons of aid, most of that being food, if there is an intent of genocide," said spokesperson David Mencer. A spokesperson for Israel's military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Accusations of genocide have particular gravity in Israel because of the origins of the concept in the work of Jewish legal scholars in the wake of the Nazi Holocaust. Israeli officials have in the past said using the word against Israel was libellous and antisemitic. When Amnesty International said in December that Israel had committed genocidal acts, Israel's foreign ministry called the global rights group a "deplorable and fanatical organization." The 1948 Genocide Convention, adopted globally after the mass murder of Jews by the Nazis, defines genocide as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group". More: USAID analysis found no evidence of massive Hamas theft of Gaza aid Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli communities across the border on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to its tallies. Israel has often described that attack, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, as genocidal. Since then, Israel's offensive has killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins, and displaced nearly the entire population of more than two million. Israel has consistently said its actions are justified as self-defence, and Hamas is to blame for all harm to civilians, for refusing to release hostages and surrender, and for operating in civilian areas, which the group denies. 'I feel horror' At a Jerusalem cafe, Carmella, a 48-year-old teacher whose grandparents survived the Holocaust, said that she was distressed over the suffering an hour's drive away, inside Gaza. More: Israel and US recall teams from Gaza truce talks, US says Hamas not showing good faith "It feels difficult to me as an Israeli, as a Jew, to watch those images and feel anything but tremendous compassion and horror, to be honest. I feel horror." International attention to the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza has intensified in recent weeks, with U.N. agencies saying the territory is running out of food for its 2.2 million people. Israel, which controls all supplies in and out of Gaza, says it has let enough food in, and blames the U.N. for failing to distribute it. Israel shut off all supplies in March for nearly three months, reopening the territory in May but with restrictions it says are needed to prevent aid from ending up in the hands of fighters. Since then, its forces have shot dead hundreds of Gazans trying to reach food distribution sites, according to the United Nations. 'You see cracks' Israel has announced measures in recent days to increase aid supplies, including pausing fighting in some locations, allowing airlifts of food and safer corridors for aid. Throughout the conflict, Israeli media have tended to focus mainly on the plight of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Footage widely broadcast in other countries of destruction and casualties in Gaza is rarely shown on Israeli TV. That has been changing, with recent images of starving children having a little more impact, said Oren Persico from The Seventh Eye, a group that tracks trends in Israeli media. "It's very slowly evolving," he said. "You see cracks." But he did not expect the genocide allegation would spark a major shift in attitudes: "The Israeli perception is: 'what do you want from us? It's Hamas' fault, if it would only put down its weapons and (release) the hostages this could all be over'." In an editorial in the Jerusalem Post on Sunday, Dani Dayan, the chairman of Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, said it was not accurate to accuse Israel of committing genocide. "But that does not mean we should not acknowledge the suffering of civilians in Gaza. There are many men, women, and children with no connection to terrorism who are experiencing devastation, displacement, and loss," he wrote. "Their anguish is real, and our moral tradition obligates us not to turn away from it."
The Hill
11 hours ago
- The Hill
Israel's leader claims no one in Gaza is starving. Data and witnesses disagree
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says no one in Gaza is starving: 'There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza. We enable humanitarian aid throughout the duration of the war to enter Gaza – otherwise, there would be no Gazans.' President Donald Trump on Monday said he disagrees with Netanyahu's claim of no starvation in Gaza, noting the images emerging of emaciated people: 'Those children look very hungry.' After international pressure, Israel over the weekend announced humanitarian pauses, airdrops and other measures meant to allow more aid to Palestinians in Gaza. But people there say little or nothing has changed on the ground. The U.N. has described it as a one-week scale-up of aid, and Israel has not said how long these latest measures would last. 'This aid, delivered in this way, is an insult to the Palestinian people,' said Hasan Al-Zalaan, who was at the site of an airdrop as some fought over the supplies and crushed cans of chickpeas littered the ground. Israel asserts that Hamas is the reason aid isn't reaching Palestinians in Gaza and accuses its militants of siphoning off aid to support its rule in the territory. The U.N. denies that looting of aid is systematic and that it lessens or ends entirely when enough aid is allowed to enter Gaza. Here's what we know: Deaths are increasing The World Health Organization said Sunday there have been 63 malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza this month, including 24 children under the age of 5 — up from 11 deaths total the previous six months of the year. Gaza's Health Ministry puts the number even higher, reporting 82 deaths this month of malnutrition-related causes: 24 children and 58 adults. It said Monday that 14 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours. The ministry, which operates under the Hamas government, is headed by medical professionals and is seen by the U.N. as the most reliable source of data on casualties. U.N. agencies also often confirm numbers through other partners on the ground. The Patient's Friends Hospital, the main emergency center for malnourished kids in northern Gaza, says this month it saw for the first time malnutrition deaths in children who had no preexisting conditions. Some adults who died suffered from such illnesses as diabetes or had heart or kidney ailments made worse by starvation, according to Gaza medical officials. The WHO also says acute malnutrition in northern Gaza tripled this month, reaching nearly one in five children under 5 years old, and has doubled in central and southern Gaza. The U.N. says Gaza's only four specialized treatment centers for malnutrition are 'overwhelmed.' The leading international authority on food crises, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, has warned of famine for months in Gaza but has not formally declared one, citing the lack of data as Israel restricts access to the territory. Aid trucks are swarmed by hungry people The measures announced by Israel late Saturday include 10-hour daily humanitarian pauses in fighting in three heavily populated areas, so that U.N. trucks can more more easily distribute food. Still, U.N. World Food Program spokesperson Martin Penner said the agency's 55 trucks of aid that entered Gaza on Monday via the crossings of Zikim and Kerem Shalom were looted by starving people before they reached WFP warehouses. Experts say that airdrops, another measure Israel announced, are insufficient for the immense need in Gaza and dangerous to people on the ground. Israel's military says 48 food packages were dropped Sunday and Monday. Palestinians say they want a full return to the U.N.-led aid distribution system that was in place throughout the war, rather than the Israeli-backed mechanism that began in May. Witnesses and health workers say Israeli forces have killed hundreds by opening fire on Palestinians trying to reach those food distribution hubs or while crowding around entering aid trucks. Israel's military says it has fired warning shots to disperse threats. The U.N. and partners say that the best way to bring food into Gaza is by truck, and they have called repeatedly for Israel to loosen restrictions on their entry. A truck carries roughly 19 tons of supplies. Israel's military says that as of July 21, 95,435 trucks of aid have entered Gaza since the war began. That's an average of 146 trucks per day, and far below the 500 to 600 trucks per day that the U.N. says are needed. The rate has sometimes been as low as half of that for several months at a time. Nothing went in for 2 1/2 months starting in March because Israel imposed a complete blockade on food, fuel and other supplies entering Gaza. Delivering aid is difficult and slow The U.N. says that delivering the aid that is allowed into Gaza has become increasingly difficult. When aid enters, it is left just inside the border in Gaza, and the U.N. must get Israeli military permission to send trucks to pick it up. But the U.N. says the military has denied or impeded just over half the movement requests for its trucks in the past three months. If the U.N. succeeds in picking up the aid, hungry crowds and armed gangs swarm the convoys and strip them of supplies. The Hamas-run civilian police once provided security along some routes, but that stopped after Israel targeted them with airstrikes.
