A baby boy named Hugo Powell has become the first child in the UK to be born by caesarean section using a transplanted womb from a dead donor.
Hugo was delivered at the Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in December, weighing 3.1kg.
Grace Bell, the baby’s mother, at present in her 30s, was born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome. It’s a one in 5,000 condition affecting women resulting in having the underdevelopment or absence of the uterus and vagina. And now she says Hugo is now 10 weeks old, and is “simply a miracle” in her life.
‘Simply a miracle’
Bell was told as a teenager that she’ll not have periods her whole life and she would be unable to carry a child. But after having Hugo, she called it ‘Simply a miracle’ to her life.
To have a baby, their only option was to hope for a womb transplant or choosing the option of surrogacy. When she got to know that a womb had been donated and a transplant was possible, she was shocked and really excited and got to know more about that.
She said: “I never, ever thought that this would be possible. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.” and said “I think of my donor and her family every day and pray they find some peace in knowing their daughter gave me the biggest gift: the gift of life”
Bell’s womb transplant operation lasted 10 hours and took place at The Churchill Hospital in Oxford. Bell and her partner, Steve Powell, chose the middle name Richard for Hugo in honour of Professor Richard Smith, the clinical lead at Womb Transplant and a gynaecological surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
‘Biggest Gift’
Bell’s successful womb transplant from a deceased donor is one of the 10 similar transplants performed as part of a UK clinical research trial. Three operations have been completed already, but Hugo is the very first baby born by this process.
Doctors say that a baby born by the transplantation of a womb from a deceased donor does not have any genetic links with the donor.
The studies say that the transplanted organ will be removed to save mother from a lifetime of taking strong drugs to prevent her body’s immune system from attacking the transplanted organ after the couple have finished having children.
Bell stated that “I hope they know that my child will always know of their incredible gift, and the miracle that brought him into this world and there are no words to say thank you enough to my donor and her family,”
The donor has donated five other organs which were transplanted into four people.Through organ donation, she has eventually given receiver families the precious gift of hope and new life.