When Amy Isabel Davidson was born six weeks ago surgeons in her delivery room broke down in tears of joy. The little girl made history by becoming the first child in Britain to be born from a womb transplant — in an organ donated by her aunt to her mother.
Amy was delivered by NHS caesarean section on February 27 at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in London. Her mother, Grace Davidson, 36, described the feeling of “shock” at holding her daughter, after getting a womb transplant from her older sister in 2023 — whom Amy is named after.
“It was just hard to believe she was real,” Davidson said. “We have been given the greatest gift we could ever have asked for.”
The birth, described by the NHS as the “miracle of Amy”, is a medical milestone that gives hope to thousands of British women without a functioning womb, for whom it would previously have been impossible to carry a child.
Davidson, an NHS dietitian from north London, was diagnosed as having no womb when she was 19 as a result of a rare condition called Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH). In February 2023 she became the first British woman to have a womb transplant, in complex surgery in Oxford which took nearly 18 hours and was funded by the charity Womb Transplant UK.
The womb was donated by Davidson’s older sister Amy Purdie, 42, a former primary school teacher, who is a mother to two girls aged ten and six. Before the transplant surgery Davidson and her husband underwent fertility treatment to create seven embryos, one of which was subsequently transferred via IVF.
Davidson had a happy pregnancy and Amy, who weighed 4.5lb and is a healthy baby, was delivered several weeks early in the planned 90-minute caesarean section.
Experts believe a maximum of 20 to 30 womb transplants per year could be carried out in the UK in the future
WOMB TRANSPLANT UK/PA
Amy’s father, Angus Davidson, described how his daughter “came out crying” in a “room full of love”, with those present including the medical staff who had performed the womb transplant. “The room was just so full of love and joy and all these people that had a vested interest in Amy for incredible medical and science reasons,” he said.
“The moment we saw her was incredible, and both of us just broke down in emotional tears — it’s hard to describe, it was elation.”
Amy’s birth is the culmination of decades of work for Richard Smith, who set up the charity Womb Transplant UK and is a consultant gynaecological surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
Smith said: “I feel great joy, actually, unbelievable — 25 years down the line from starting this research, we finally have a baby, little Amy Isabel.
“Astonishing, really astonishing. There’s been a lot of tears shed by all of us in this process — really quite emotional, for sure. It is really something.”
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Smith, who was on hand for the delivery, said the “scariest thing for me on the day of the delivery was the prospect of dropping the baby as she was handed to me”.
He added: “I have to say, I walked out of the room in Queen Charlotte’s [hospital] with tears streaming down my face. It’s quarter of a century — a good proportion of my career.”
Smith was the lead surgeon along with Isabel Quiroga, of the Oxford Transplant Centre, who said she was “humbled” to hear that baby Amy was given the middle name Isabel.
Quiroga said: “For me, it’s total joy, delight. I couldn’t be happier for Angus and Grace, what a wonderful couple. It was overwhelming actually, it remains overwhelming. It’s fantastic.”
The charity has carried out three further transplants on women in the UK who received wombs, also known as the uterus, from deceased donors. It is hoped these women will also go on to have babies.
Experts believe a maximum of 20 to 30 womb transplants per year could be carried out in the UK in the future.
Currently the transplants, which cost about £30,000, are not funded by the NHS as the surgery is seen as too experimental. However, the NHS may provide funding in the future, and after Davidson became pregnant the NHS took over the costs of managing her pregnancy and the safe delivery of baby Amy.
Since the first womb transplant in Sweden in 2014, 50 babies have been born worldwide as a result of the highly complex procedure, mainly in the United States and the Middle East. A transplanted womb should last five years, which is enough for two pregnancies, and women have to take immunosuppressants during pregnancy to ensure their body does not reject the womb.
Estimates suggest there are 15,000 women in the UK of childbearing age who do not have a functioning womb, including those who have had a hysterectomy during cancer treatment. Womb transplants could be a solution for these women, who previously would have had to use a surrogate or adopt.
Kate Brintworth, England’s chief midwifery officer, said: “I am so delighted that Grace, Angus and their whole family have been able to welcome the miracle of Amy to the world.
“This is a momentous moment in NHS history, and an example of how we are constantly innovating and embracing the latest medical advancements so patients can benefit from groundbreaking care.
“Led by specialist teams from across the NHS, we should all be very proud of the health service’s role in this UK first and the hope it will bring to so many women.”
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