Health

Ovary transplant "Miracle Baby"

by Blue Crush | November 15, 2008 at 02:32 am

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A German woman who gave birth after receiving the world's first whole ovary transplant has described her newborn baby daughter as "a little miracle".

Maja, appropriately named after the Roman goddess of fertility, is a symbol of hope to millions of infertile women around the world who could benefit from the same pioneering procedure which enabled her mother Susanne to conceive naturally.

Mrs Butscher, 39, who went through an early menopause, fell pregnant a year after being given an ovary by her identical twin sister.

Recovering from the birth at the Portland Hospital in London, she said: "Being a mother at last is an indescribable feeling. It's been hard to take my eyes off her since she was born.

"I'm so lucky to have had this wonderful opportunity which has given me a sense of completeness I would never have had otherwise.

"Being the first woman in the world to give birth after a whole ovary transplant hasn't sunk in yet, but I'm just so grateful to the doctors who enabled this to happen and to my sister, of course.

"I'm happy to be sharing my story with the world to give other women hope who might have similar problems."

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Paschen

at 04:30 on November 15th, 2008

Very interesting and the name of the little Girl, well I have not heard that name in a very long time.

reno_fog

at 08:02 on November 15th, 2008

A wonderful outcome and an interesting procedure... well reported

sara star

at 08:41 on November 15th, 2008

This is great news! But this is not the first successful ovary transplant. The USA already did it in 2005.

"Ovary transplants could be as common as kidney transplants one day, according to the doctor who delivered the girl born this week to the woman who had the first known successful ovary transplant in the United States."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/06/09/earlyshow/health/main700646.shtml

Blue Crush

at 10:11 on November 15th, 2008

Thanks, Sarah, for that CBS link. Maybe that's why they mentioned (more than once) "whole ovary transplant". Both of these transplants were done by Dr. Sherman Silber, a fertility specialist at St. Luke's Hospital in Chesterfield, Mo. In both cases, the donor was their identical twin.

Here's his link, it says he's treated many thousands of couples from all over the world, it sure makes for some fantastic reading, not to mention all the hope for childless couples.

http://www.infertile.com/closlook/biograph.htm