A baby girl has become the first in the UK to be born following a womb transplant, with her aunt donating her uterus to her mother, a London hospital announced on Tuesday, April 8.
Amy was born on February 27 at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in London, two years after her mother, Grace Davidson, received the womb transplant from her older sister.
“We have been given the greatest gift we could have ever asked for,” said Grace, the new mother. She expressed hope that this procedure could become a viable option for women who otherwise cannot carry their own children.
Her father, Angus Davidson, shared the emotional impact of the moment: “The room was full of people who helped us on this journey to having Amy.”
Grace Davidson, 36, was born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome, a rare condition that left her without a functioning womb. The transplant, which took place in February 2023 at the Oxford Transplant Centre, was made possible by her sister, Amy Purdie, 42, who is a mother of two.
Professor Richard Smith, a consultant gynaecological surgeon and co-leader of the UK’s living donor program, described the birth of Amy as the result of over 25 years of research.
Since the first womb transplant in Sweden in 2013, over 100 such procedures have been performed worldwide, resulting in around 50 healthy babies being born.
