UK’s First Womb Transplant Baby Born to Grace Davidson

Tejal Somvanshi

Grace Davidson made UK medical history by giving birth after receiving her sister's donated womb, offering new hope to thousands of women born without a uterus.

 Photo Source: Womb Transplant UK

Baby Amy Isabel, born February 27 weighing just 4.5 pounds, was named after her aunt who donated the womb and the surgeon who perfected the technique.

Photo Source: Womb Transplant UK

The complex 17-hour transplant surgery in 2023 required more than 30 medical professionals and culminated a 25-year research journey led by Professor Richard Smith.

Photo Source: Womb Transplant UK

Grace's MRKH syndrome meant she had no functioning womb, but her ovaries worked normally, allowing the couple to create and freeze embryos through IVF.

Photo Source: Cloudnine Hospitals (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Grace experienced her first-ever period just two weeks after the transplant and became pregnant on her first IVF attempt using the previously frozen embryos.

Photo Source: Joe Goldberg (CC BY 2.0

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The couple hopes for a second child before removing the transplanted womb, which will allow Grace to stop taking daily immunosuppressant medication.

Photo Source: Pixabay (CC0 1.0)

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Three more UK womb transplants using deceased donors have been performed, part of a clinical trial aiming for 15 transplants to help the estimated 15,000 UK women without functioning wombs.

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Globally, about 135 womb transplants across a dozen countries have resulted in approximately 65 births since the first successful procedure in Sweden in 2014.

Photo Source: George ruiz (CC BY 2.0)

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