Australian-first surgery Womb transplant from mother Michelle Hayton to daughter Kirsty Bryant

A mother has given her daughter her womb in a first-ever transplant operation in Australia that promises hope for women cruelly denied the chance to conceive.

Kirsty Bryant, 30, received the womb from her mother Michelle Hayton, 54, during marathon operations at the Royal Hospital for Women in Sydney on January 10.

Ms Bryant lost her uterus in April 2021 during an emergency hysterectomy to give birth to her and husband Nick’s first child, Violet.

After losing a large amount of blood and being in an induced coma for 48 hours, Ms. Bryant woke up to the devastating news that she could never have another baby.

“I was incredibly grateful to have a happy and healthy baby girl, but I was very, very saddened by the thought of not being able to have another child,” she told Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes on Sunday night.

‘After taking Violet, that connection is indescribable. She wanted to experience all of that again.

‘Yes, it was very hard.’

Ms Bryant, who along with her mother lives in the northern New South Wales town of Coffs Harbour, now hopes to have two more children using the transplanted womb.

She has a five-year window to do this because the strong drugs used to prevent her body from rejecting the organ cannot be used for a longer period safely.

“So potentially I’m going to have a baby in the same womb, in the same womb that I grew up in,” she said.

Ms Hayton said she didn’t hesitate for a second when asked.

“She’s not just my daughter, she’s the best thing I have, she’s my best friend and, yes, I would do anything to help her on her journey,” she said.

However, she admitted to being shocked when her daughter called with the request.

She said the conversation began with Ms. Bryant asking, ‘Hey Mom, what do you think about having a hysterectomy and giving me your uterus?’

“And I was like, ‘Sorry?'” Bryant said.

‘I said, ‘Really? Is that a thing?’

Ms Hayton and Ms Bryant embrace before the mammoth 16-hour surgery that took the mother’s womb and transplanted it to her daughter at Sydney’s Royal Hospital for Women in January.

Ms Hayton had to go under the knife for 11 hours to have her uterus removed and it took four hours to place it in Ms Bryant.

The lead surgeon, Dr. Rebecca Deans, said the surgeries had gone “according to plan”.

“I have to say it was one of the best days of my life,” he said.

‘He was amazing personally, professionally. It was just amazing,’

While Dr Deans said both patients were doing well, there were post-op challenges with Ms Bryant needing transfusions 24 hours after surgery when she suffered significant blood loss.

Ms. Hayton contracted a severe infection and still has no sensation in her bladder.

Ms Bryant and her husband Nick have fertilized six of their eggs into IVF embryos that are waiting to be implanted in her new womb, a process that should begin two to five months from now.

Professor Mats Brannstrom, the Swedish surgeon who pioneered the operation in 2012, was on hand to oversee the operations and is staying in Australia to watch things unfold.

Ms. Hayton (pictured right) and Ms. Bryant (pictured left) have been doing well since their incredible surgery.

The first transplant in 2012 allowed two babies to be born and since then there have been 90 successful transplants around the world resulting in 50 births.

Dr. Deans said that each implanted embryo has a 30 to 50 percent chance of becoming a baby.

There are plans to perform 11 more uterus transplants in 2023, though Dr. Deans is looking to raise $1 million to keep the program viable for the next three years of research.

Five of the uteruses donated for future use will be from living donors, while six are from deceased women.