Baby boy born to UK mother after womb transplant from dead donor | Organ donation
A baby boy named Hugo is the first child to be born in the UK to a mother transplanted from a deceased donor’s uterus.
Hugo Powell was born at Queen Charlotte and Chelsea Hospital in London, weighing 3.09 kg (6 lb 13 oz), after his mother, Grace Bell, received a uterus transplant from a deceased person.
This is the first birth in the UK using a deceased donor’s uterus, with only two previous cases reported in Europe.
Bell, a computer program manager, was born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, a rare disorder resulting in an underdeveloped or missing uterus.
She was told as a teenager that she would not be able to bear children and described Hugo’s birth as a “miracle”. She said: “I never thought this would be possible. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”
Bell began fertility treatment several months after the transplant in 2024. Hugo was born in December last year.
She said she thinks every day of her uterus donor and the generosity of her family. “There are no words to thank my donor and her family enough,” she said. “Their kindness and selflessness towards a complete stranger is the reason I was able to realize my lifelong dream of becoming a mother.”
Five more organs from the donor were transplanted into four people, saving the lives of others.
The donor’s parents said: “The loss of our daughter has turned our world upside down in ways we can barely express in words. »
But they added: “Through organ donation, she gave other families the precious gift of time, hope, healing and now life. As parents, we are extremely proud of the legacy she leaves behind – a legacy of compassion, courage and love that continues to touch lives even after her passing.”
Bell and his partner, Steve Powell, gave Hugo the middle name Richard, in tribute to Professor Richard Smith, clinical lead at the charity Womb Transplant UK and consultant gynecological surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
Smith, who was present at the birth, told PA Media: “It’s been an incredible journey. Our whole team has worked together for years and years to make this happen. So for me it’s been fantastic, just incredible.”
The transplanted organ will be removed when the couple is finished having children, to save Bell from a lifetime of taking immunosuppressive drugs.
The UK’s first uterus transplant, in 2023, involved fellow MRKH patient Grace Davidson receiving a uterus – also known as a uterus – from her older sister, Amy, as a living donation.
Around 25 to 30 babies are born worldwide from a deceased uterus donation. More than two-thirds of uterus transplants involve living donors and one-third come from deceased donors.
The uterus is not covered by normal consent to donate, nor by registration on the organ donor register, and it is not covered by presumed consent (which assumes that people want to donate unless they opt out). Families of potential donors will be specifically asked if they are willing to approve a uterus donation.
