First baby born in the UK after womb transplant from deceased donor
A baby boy has become the first child born in the UK to a mother who received a womb from a deceased donor.
Hugo Powell was born to Grace Bell and Steve Powell in December, weighing 6lb 13oz (3.1kg), following a landmark transplant at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital, part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
Ms Bell, IT program manager, was born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH), a rare condition that results in underdevelopment of the uterus, and was diagnosed at age 16.
He said baby Hugo’s birth was “just a miracle.”
“I never, ever thought this would be possible,” Ms. Bell said. “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. I never thought it would be possible since I was 16. So it’s truly a miracle. It seemed quite unreal to me at the time because it was a long journey for both of us.”
“I remember waking up in the morning and seeing his little puppet and his little face, and I felt like I needed to wake up from a dream.”
Ms Bell added that she thinks about her womb donor every day.
“I can’t thank my donor and his family enough. I hope they know that my child will always know his incredible talents and the miracle that brought him into this world,” she said.
“I think about my donor and her family every day and pray that they find peace in knowing that their daughter gave me the greatest gift of all, the gift of life. A part of her will live on forever.”
Womb transplantation from deceased donors can only occur when the deceased’s relatives are asked if they would like to donate their uterus; They do not fall under normal consent to donation, participation in the organ donor register, or default consent, which assumes people want to donate unless they opt out.
The anonymous donor saved other lives by transplanting five of his organs to four more people.
The donor’s parents said: “Losing our daughter has shattered our world in ways we cannot express in words. The pain is immense, and the pain of her absence is something we will carry forever. But even in this unimaginable pain, we take some comfort in knowing that her final act, her choice, was one of pure generosity.”
Isabel Quiroga, consultant surgeon and transplant clinical lead at the Oxford Transplant Centre, part of Oxford University Hospitals, performed a seven-hour uterine transplant on Ms Bell in 2024. A few months later, Ms Bell underwent fertility treatment at the Lister Fertility Clinic in London.
While Ms. Bell and Mr. Powell may decide to have a second baby, surgeons will eventually have to remove the transplanted uterus or the new mother will have to take immunosuppressive drugs for the rest of her life, which carries its own risks.
Womb Transplant UK has so far carried out and paid for five womb transplants in the UK; two of these include living donors and three include deceased donors. Two babies have been born and three transplant patients have not yet had a baby but are receiving special in vitro fertilization treatment.
“They have functioning transplants,” Ms. Quiroga said. “We have not experienced any technical glitches so far and they are at different stages of in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer.”
In 2023, another MRKH patient, Grace Davidson, received the first uterine transplant in the UK, with a living donation from her older sister Amy. She gave birth to daughter Amy Isabel Davidson in February last year.
Becky Clarke, regional head of nursing for NHS Blood and Transplant’s Midlands and South Central organ donation teams, said: “Our specialist organ donation nurses are highly trained, experienced nurses who will speak to families and approach them about organ donation when a loved one has sadly died.
“They will check if the person is on the organ donor register, then talk to the family and see if there is something they agree on. Once we have established this, we will get the families’ consent and reach out to them if they would like to consider donating a uterus as an extra confirmation.
“Our experience in approaching a small number of families is that the vast majority immediately want to accept it and they think it’s a great thing.
“We are so grateful to the families who chose to provide additional consent to donate to this program.”
