Baby girl makes history as the first child in the UK to be born after a womb transplant – offering hope to thousands
A BABY girl has made history as the first child in the UK to be born from a womb transplant.
Grace Davidson, 36, from north London, received the organ – also called the uterus – from her older sister Amy Purdie in Britain’s first womb transplant in 2023.
Following the success of the procedure, she and her husband Angus, 37, welcomed Amy Isabel, named after her aunt and a surgeon who helped perfect the technique.
Grace, an NHS dietitian, said: “We have been given the greatest gift we could ever have asked for.”
The news gives hope to thousands of women born without a womb or whose womb fails to function.
Professor Richard Smith, who led the development of womb transplants in the UK and “shed tears” in the operating theatre, said: “I feel great joy.
“It’s unbelievable – 25 years down the line from starting this research, we finally have a baby.”
Grace was born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH), a rare condition that affects around one in every 5,000 women.
It means the womb is underdeveloped or missing; 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, Grace and Angus, who works in finance, created seven embryos, which were frozen in central London.
Grace then had surgery in February 2023 to receive the womb from her sister Amy, 42, a former primary school teacher, who is mother to two girls aged 10 and six.
Several months later, one of the stored embryos was transferred via IVF to Grace.
Little Amy, who weighed 4.5lb, was delivered several weeks early on February 27 in a planned 1.5-hour Caesarean section at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital, London.
Grace said she felt “shock” when she first held her daughter, adding: “I knew she was ours, but it was just hard to believe she was real.”
Angus said: “She came out crying, and we were a bit worried she would be whisked off to an antenatal ward, but she’s been with us every minute of her life so we’re so grateful for that.
“We had been kind of suppressing emotion, probably for 10 years, and you don’t know how that’s going to come out – ugly crying it turns out!
“The room was just so full of love and joy, and the moment we saw her was incredible; both of us just broke down in emotional tears – it’s hard to describe, it was elation.”
The couple always had “a quiet hope” the womb transplant would be a success, but it was touch and go.
“It was quite a long run up, maybe eight years or so, and we kept thinking it might get ruled out for various reasons,” Grace, who “definitely” wants to have another child, said.
“Lots of womb transplants fail in the first two weeks so even just to get to that point was amazing, and then having my first period showed it was working.
“Once we had the transplant, I think we were hopeful that things were going to work out, but it wasn’t really until she arrived that the reality of it sunk in.”
Donor Amy, who lives in Scotland, was not at the birth but said: “Watching Grace and Angus become parents has been an absolute joy and worth every moment.”
She said that she did not hesitate about donating her womb to her younger sister, adding: “There was no question about it.”
Grace was diagnosed as having no womb when she was 19 and found out about potential transplants at the same time.
“It was very much at the research stages, but the consultant said this might be available in my lifetime,” she said.
“Before we got married, I Googled it and found out there was a research team, so I emailed them.
“We basically got recruited from 800 women down to 10 for the deceased donor trial, then after three years the living donors really took off as a possibility.”
It’s total joy, delight. I couldn’t be happier for Angus and Grace, what a wonderful couple
Isabel Quiroga
Asked how having a diagnosis of MRKH has affected her life, Grace, who took immunosuppressants during her pregnancy to ensure her body did not reject the womb, said: “At the time of diagnosis, I already knew that I wanted to be a mum so it was just devastating.
“I felt a huge sadness over me, and I used to get triggered by seeing ordinary stuff like a mum with a pushchair.”
The lead surgeons for the womb transplant were Prof Smith, clinical lead at the charity Womb Transplant UK and consultant gynaecological surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, and Isabel Quiroga, consultant surgeon at the Oxford Transplant Centre.
Both were in the operating theatre when Amy was delivered, and her parents chose her middle name in honour of Miss Quiroga.
Prof Smith said: “It’s really astonishing. I have to say, I walked out of the room with tears streaming down my face.”
Miss Quiroga, who was “humbled” to hear Amy was given the middle name Isabel, added: “It’s total joy, delight. I couldn’t be happier for Angus and Grace, what a wonderful couple.”
‘HUGE MILESTONE’
Womb Transplant UK has carried out four womb transplants in the UK – the first on Grace and then three on women who received wombs from deceased donors. It is fundraising to do more.
Estimates suggest there are 15,000 women in the UK of childbearing age who do not have a functioning womb.
Professor Alison Campbell, chief scientific officer at Care Fertility, said: “It’s truly incredible how science is making more families possible and to see this progress in reproductive medicine.
“The success of uterine transplantation is a huge milestone for people who believed it was impossible to carry a child.
“This news gives hope and promises to further expand reproductive freedom.”
What is MRKH?
MAYER Rokitansky Küster Hauser (MRKH) syndrome is a condition that you are born with.
It is characterised by a shortened vagina and the absence or underdevelopment of the womb, also called the uterus.
It affects around one in every 5,000 women.
Those with MRKH usually discover they have it during puberty. Although breasts and pubic hair develop, periods do not start.
“This is because the ovaries produce the female hormones that make normal development occur, but the absence of the vagina and uterus mean that there is no period,” the NHS says.
Patients with MRKH have not previously been able to get pregnant or carry a baby.
But there is growing research in the field of womb transplants, with Womb Transplant UK carrying out four womb transplants in the UK so far.
The charity is fundraising to do more.