Latest news with #AmyIsabel
Saudi Gazette
08-04-2025
- Health
- Saudi Gazette
Woman becomes first in UK to give birth after womb transplant
LONDON — In a medical milestone, 36-year-old Grace Davidson has become the first woman in the UK to give birth after receiving a womb transplant — a groundbreaking achievement hailed by surgeons as 'astonishing.' Davidson, who was born without a uterus due to a rare condition known as Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome, delivered her daughter, Amy Isabel, via planned caesarean section on February 27 at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in London. The transplant was made possible after her sister, Amy Purdie, donated her womb in 2023 during an eight-hour operation. 'It was just hard to believe she was real,' Davidson said, describing the moment she held her daughter for the first time. 'I knew she was ours, but it's just hard to believe.' The couple had previously undergone IVF treatment, creating and freezing embryos ahead of the transplant. Several months after the procedure, one of the embryos was successfully implanted. The baby's name honors both the donor and one of the lead surgeons — Purdie and Isabel Quiroga of the Oxford Transplant Centre — who helped perfect the complex technique. The success of Davidson's pregnancy marks a major leap forward in fertility treatment for women born without a uterus or who lose it due to illness or injury. Three other womb transplants have been performed in the UK using deceased donors, and more are planned. Around 10 women are currently undergoing approval for a womb transplant, while hundreds more have expressed interest in the £25,000 procedure, which is currently funded by the charity Womb Transplant UK. Prof. Richard Smith, the charity's clinical lead who has spearheaded 25 years of research into womb transplantation, said witnessing the birth of Amy Isabel was a deeply emotional moment. 'We finally have a baby — little Amy Isabel. Astonishing, really astonishing.' Davidson took immunosuppressants during her pregnancy to prevent rejection of the donor organ and has expressed a desire to have another child in the future. Globally, more than 100 womb transplants have been performed, resulting in at least 50 births since the first successful case in Sweden in 2014. — Agencies
The Independent
08-04-2025
- Health
- The Independent
The miracle babies born following life-changing womb transplants around the world
Amy Isabel became the first child in the UK to be born following a womb transplant, joining dozens of other miracle babies around the world thanks to the pioneering surgery. Grace Davidson gave birth after receiving a womb transplant from her older sister, Amy, in a groundbreaking procedure. She was born by planned NHS Caesarean section on February 27 at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in London. Mrs Davidson said she felt 'shock' when she first held her daughter, adding: 'We have been given the greatest gift we could ever have asked for.' The 36-year-old was born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH), a rare condition that affects around one in every 5,000 women, meaning they have an underdeveloped or missing womb. The ovaries are intact and still function to produce eggs and female hormones, making conceiving via fertility treatment a possibility. However, this is not the first baby to be born following a womb transplant. The first was in Sweden in 2014, when a 36-year-old mother who was born without a uterus received a donated womb from a friend in her 60s. The woman, who remained anonymous, gave birth to a child prematurely weighing 1.8kg (3.9lb), according to the British medical journal The Lancet. Since then, around 135 such transplants have been carried out in more than a dozen countries, including the US, China, France, Germany, India and Turkey. As a result of these pioneering surgeries around 65 babies have been born around the world. In March 2023 Prue Craven, who lives in Melbourne, Australia, received a womb transplant. A year later, the 37-year-old said she felt 'whole' when she welcomed her daughter Rose into the world. Ms Craven discovered she had never developed a uterus aged 17 and was diagnosed with MRKH syndrome. After attempting surrogacy in Thailand and looking into adoption in the UK, Ms Craven and her husband Tom moved back to Australia where they explored transplants. Ms Craven's mother was first in line to be a donor, but she was not a match. However, Lifelong friend Madonna Corstorphan, 57, stepped in. The women endured a marathon 14-hour operation to complete the uterus transplant. Following the birth of her baby she told the BBC: 'I could never have imagined when I was 17 that I would have a uterus transplanted into me and I would carry a baby to live birth and now have a child from it. 'Mentally and emotionally, it is like a part of me is being filled that has always been missing.' Peyton Meave, 24, was the third mother in the US to deliver her baby, a girl named Emersyn Rae, in June 2019, after a womb transplant. The mother who lives in Oklahoma, said having a child through participation in a US trail had been a 'life-changing' experience, The Guardian reported. However, her pregnancy was not straightforward, at 22 weeks she had unexplained bleeding, which doctors said was due to her having an incompetent cervix, which can cause it to open early – risking miscarriage and premature delivery. Following bed rest she gave birth at 30 weeks. 'She's four now – as busy as can be and super healthy. She's just the light of our lives,' she told the newspaper. But due to the complex pregnancy, she decided to have the transplant removed. Maria Montes was the second mother in Spain to welcome a child into the world following a womb transplant. The baby, Manuel, was born at 37 weeks via a caesarean section and weighed 2.9kg, according to the Clinic Barcelona website. It was all made possible thanks to Ms Montes' mother who donated her uterus which was transplanted in April 2022. Just two months after the surgery, Maria Montes had her first period and, after a few months the fertility treatment began. Four days after the c-section, Ms Montes, Tono – the baby's father - and Manuel were able to go home and start their new life.
The Independent
07-04-2025
- Health
- The Independent
The first baby born in the UK to a woman with a transplanted womb
Grace Davidson, 36, has given birth to baby Amy Isabel, the first child in the UK born after a w omb transplant, in a historic medical achievement. Mrs. Davidson received the w omb from her older sister, Amy Purdie, 42, who selflessly donated it after Mrs. Davidson was diagnosed with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH), a condition where women are born without a functioning uterus. B aby Amy Isabel was born via planned C-section on February 27 at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in London, weighing 4.5lb, and both mother and baby are doing well. The successful birth marks a significant advancement in reproductive medicine, offering hope to thousands of women with uterine factor infertility, and involved fertility treatments and a w omb transplant in February 2023. The lead surgeons, Professor Richard Smith and Isabel Quiroga, expressed their joy and astonishment at the successful outcome, with the parents naming their daughter in honour of Miss Quiroga; w omb Transplant UK has performed four transplants and is fundraising for more.
Sky News
07-04-2025
- Health
- Sky News
Baby girl becomes first child in UK to be born from womb transplant
A baby girl has become the first child in the UK to be born from a womb transplant. Grace Davidson, who received the transplant in 2023, said the birth of her daughter Amy Isabel was the "greatest gift we could ever have asked for". The 36-year-old, from north London, received the donated womb from her older sister, Amy. It was the first time the procedure had taken place in the UK, and the birth will give hope to thousands of women born without a womb - like those with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome - or whose womb fails to function. Amy Isabel was named after her aunt, and a surgeon who helped perfect the technique, and was born by planned caesarean section on 27 February at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in London. Mrs Davidson, an NHS dietitian, said she felt "shock" when she first held her daughter, adding: "We have been given the greatest gift we could ever have asked for. "It was just hard to believe she was real. I knew she was ours, but it's just hard to believe. "It sort of feels like there's a completeness now where there maybe wasn't before." Her husband Angus, 37, said: "The moment we saw her was incredible, and both of us just broke down in emotional tears - it's hard to describe, it was elation. "It had been such a long wait. We'd been intending to have a family somehow since we were married, and we've kind of been on this journey for such a long time." Womb transplantation is on the way to becoming an acceptable, life-giving procedure Science and technology editor @t0mclark3 The birth of Amy Isabel is not just a first for the UK, but an important step towards womb transplantation becoming an established medical procedure. It was little more than a decade ago that the world's first baby was born following a womb transplant in Sweden. And not without eyebrows being raised by some in the world of medical ethics. Not all womb transplants, whether from a living relative or from a deceased donor, are successful. And not all result in successful or uncomplicated pregnancies. But the surgical team behind this UK success have achieved a one-for-one: a healthy baby born from the first womb transplant ever performed here. Amy Isabel joins an estimated 50 other babies and children worldwide now born via a womb transplant. And she won't be the last. Around 100 women in at least 10 countries have undergone the procedure – three transplants have taken place in the UK since Amy's mother became the first in 2023. A study of 33 womb transplants in the US found 74% of the transplants remained healthy after a year and 80% of those resulted in a successful birth. But a womb transplant is unlikely to ever become "routine". While the number of eligible women – those lacking a functioning uterus but having healthy ovaries – might number in the low thousands in a country the size of the UK, not all would meet the strict medical criteria needed to maximise the chance of a successful transplant and subsequent birth. And not all might choose it. A successful birth following a womb transplant involves three major operations. The first to receive the transplanted womb, a caesarean section to deliver the baby, then a hysterectomy to remove the womb once the recipient mother decides to have no more children. Given a womb transplant isn't "life-saving", ethics guidelines require the procedure to be temporary. The long-term risks of organ rejection, and the drugs needed to prevent it, are considered too great once the womb has served its miraculous function. Some medical ethicists still question the procedure as a whole, arguing it is unnecessarily risky for both the mother and baby, especially babies are born seriously pre-term and at low birth weight. However, this latest success, and the increasing number of healthy babies born via the procedure worldwide may change that. Womb transplantation is on the way to becoming an acceptable, life-giving procedure for women who previously had no hope of carrying a baby of their own. Mrs Davidson was born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser, a rare condition that affects around one in every 5,000 women. It means they have an underdeveloped or missing womb. However, the ovaries are intact and still function to produce eggs and female hormones, making conceiving via fertility treatment a possibility. Before receiving the donated womb, Mrs Davidson and her husband underwent fertility treatment to create seven embryos, which were frozen for In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) in central London. Mrs Davidson had surgery in February 2023 to receive the womb from her 42-year-old sister, who is a mother to two girls aged 10 and six, and who called the birth of her niece "worth every moment". Several months later, one of the stored embryos was transferred via IVF to Mrs Davidson. The baby weighed 4.5lbs and was delivered several weeks early to ensure a safe, hospital-based delivery. Professor Richard Smith and Isabel Quiroga were the lead surgeons for the womb transplant and both were in the operating theatre when Amy was delivered, with her parents choosing her middle name in honour of Ms Quiroga. Prof Smith, clinical lead at the charity Womb Transplant UK and consultant gynaecological surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, told Sky News that being in the operating theatre when Amy was delivered was "really quite remarkable". The medic said: "We've waited a very, very long time for this, and there's been quite a lot of tears shed. Ironically the scariest bit of the day for me was when [Amy's] mum and dad asked me to hold their baby, which was incredible." Ms Quiroga, consultant surgeon at the Oxford Transplant Centre, part of Oxford University Hospitals, told Sky News it was "quite a complex procedure" and "the pressure was immense when we did the transplant".
