In the United Kingdom, a baby was born for the first time with the help of a uterus transplanted from a deceased donor. The BBC reported this.
The baby’s mother is Grace Bell, in her 30s, who was born without a uterus. Bell has MRKH syndrome, which occurs in about 5,000 women in the UK: in this condition, a woman is born without a uterus, does not menstruate, but her ovaries are normal.
She learned at the age of 16 that she would not be able to have children. After that, the only options for the couple were a uterus transplant or surrogacy services. Bell recalls that when she received the news that a donor uterus had been found for the transplant, she was “completely shocked.”
Bell’s uterus transplant was performed in June 2024 at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford. The operation lasted 10 hours. A few months later, the couple underwent IVF treatment at the Lister Fertility Clinic in London.
As a result, Hugo was born in December 2025 at the Queen Charlotte’s Hospital in London weighing about 3.2 kilograms, and he is now 10 weeks old. Bell calls her son born through a uterus transplant “just a miracle.”
“I think about my donor and her family every day. I hope they find comfort knowing that their daughter gave me the greatest gift of life — the gift of life,” Bell said.
Surgeons who took part in the operation emphasized that this news gives great hope to women without a uterus. Bell’s uterus transplant from a deceased donor is one of 10 such operations being carried out in the UK as part of a clinical study. So far, three transplants have been performed, but the birth of a baby is the first case.
It is noted that at the beginning of 2025, the first baby in Britain born thanks to a living donor’s uterus — Amy — was also born: her mother received the uterus transplanted from her sister in January 2023. In the UK, five more uterus transplants from close relatives are planned.
Read “Zamin” on Telegram!
