In a medical miracle, Grace Davidson has become the first woman in the UK to give birth after a successful womb transplant .
Diagnosed with a rare condition as a teenager that left her without a uterus, the woman's dream of starting a family was made possible by an extraordinary act of generosity from her sister, Amy Purdie - already a mother of two - who donated her womb to her.
As everything fell into place perfectly for the couple, Grace and her husband Angus couldn't believe it was happening, as they had been given 'the greatest gift we could ever have asked for."
The arrival of their daughter, Amy Isabel, has not only been the greatest source of joy for the parents but it also marked an emotional and historic milestone in the field of reproductive medicine.
Surgeons are calling it an 'astonishing' medical breakthrough. The baby girl is named Amy Isabel after Grace’s sister, Amy Purdie, who donated her womb in 2023 to her, and Isabel Quiroga, the surgeon who helped with the transplant technique.
The birth of the 'little' miracle
The baby girl came into the world by planned NHS caesarean section on 27 February at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea hospital in London. The first reaction of the mother when she held her daughter was that of a shock.
“It was just hard to believe she was real. I knew she was ours, but it’s just hard to believe," she said.
Astonishing moment for the 'science'
This miraculous arrival follows 25 years of research led by Prof Richard Smith.
“I feel great joy actually, unbelievable – 25 years down the line from starting this research, we finally have a baby, little Amy Isabel. Astonishing, really astonishing," Smith said, who was in the operation theatre at the time of the baby's birth.
“There’s been a lot of tears shed by all of us in this process – really quite emotional, for sure. It is really something," Smith added.
Smith told the BBC that around 10 women currently have embryos in storage or are undergoing fertility treatment, which is required to be considered for womb transplantation. Each transplant costs approximately £30,000, and the charity has enough funds to carry out two more.
The surgical team has approval to perform 15 womb transplants as part of a clinical trial—five from living donors and 10 from deceased donors. Details about the three women who have already received wombs from deceased donors have not been made public.
What is Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome ?
The mother suffered, an NHS dietitian from north London, suffered from Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome, a rare condition that affects about one in every 5,000 women. The women born with the condition have an underdeveloped or missing womb. The ovaries remain functional making conceiving via fertility treatment a possibility.
Davidson and her husband underwent fertility treatment to create seven embryos, which were then frozen for IVF in central London.
In February 2023, she had surgery to receive the womb from her 42-year-old sister, Purdie, who has two daughters, aged 10 and 6. Several months later, one of the frozen embryos was transferred to Davidson via IVF.
How the father felt“Having waited such a long time, it’s kind of odd getting your head around that this is the moment where you are going to meet your daughter.
“The room was full of people who have helped us on the journey to actually having Amy. 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 all these people that had a vested interest in Amy for incredible medical and science reasons. But the lines between that and the love for our family and for Amy are very much blurred – it felt like a room full of love.
“The moment we saw her was incredible, and both of us just broke down in emotional tears,” said Angus Davidson.
Davidson said she would definitely want to have another child.
Video
Diagnosed with a rare condition as a teenager that left her without a uterus, the woman's dream of starting a family was made possible by an extraordinary act of generosity from her sister, Amy Purdie - already a mother of two - who donated her womb to her.
As everything fell into place perfectly for the couple, Grace and her husband Angus couldn't believe it was happening, as they had been given 'the greatest gift we could ever have asked for."
The arrival of their daughter, Amy Isabel, has not only been the greatest source of joy for the parents but it also marked an emotional and historic milestone in the field of reproductive medicine.
Surgeons are calling it an 'astonishing' medical breakthrough. The baby girl is named Amy Isabel after Grace’s sister, Amy Purdie, who donated her womb in 2023 to her, and Isabel Quiroga, the surgeon who helped with the transplant technique.
The birth of the 'little' miracle
The baby girl came into the world by planned NHS caesarean section on 27 February at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea hospital in London. The first reaction of the mother when she held her daughter was that of a shock.
“It was just hard to believe she was real. I knew she was ours, but it’s just hard to believe," she said.
Astonishing moment for the 'science'
This miraculous arrival follows 25 years of research led by Prof Richard Smith.
“I feel great joy actually, unbelievable – 25 years down the line from starting this research, we finally have a baby, little Amy Isabel. Astonishing, really astonishing," Smith said, who was in the operation theatre at the time of the baby's birth.
“There’s been a lot of tears shed by all of us in this process – really quite emotional, for sure. It is really something," Smith added.
Smith told the BBC that around 10 women currently have embryos in storage or are undergoing fertility treatment, which is required to be considered for womb transplantation. Each transplant costs approximately £30,000, and the charity has enough funds to carry out two more.
The surgical team has approval to perform 15 womb transplants as part of a clinical trial—five from living donors and 10 from deceased donors. Details about the three women who have already received wombs from deceased donors have not been made public.
What is Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome ?
The mother suffered, an NHS dietitian from north London, suffered from Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome, a rare condition that affects about one in every 5,000 women. The women born with the condition have an underdeveloped or missing womb. The ovaries remain functional making conceiving via fertility treatment a possibility.
Davidson and her husband underwent fertility treatment to create seven embryos, which were then frozen for IVF in central London.
In February 2023, she had surgery to receive the womb from her 42-year-old sister, Purdie, who has two daughters, aged 10 and 6. Several months later, one of the frozen embryos was transferred to Davidson via IVF.
How the father felt“Having waited such a long time, it’s kind of odd getting your head around that this is the moment where you are going to meet your daughter.
“The room was full of people who have helped us on the journey to actually having Amy. 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 all these people that had a vested interest in Amy for incredible medical and science reasons. But the lines between that and the love for our family and for Amy are very much blurred – it felt like a room full of love.
“The moment we saw her was incredible, and both of us just broke down in emotional tears,” said Angus Davidson.
Davidson said she would definitely want to have another child.
Video
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