I was born without a uterus. The breakthrough of the womb transplant in Britain gives me a glimmer of hope that I can have a child

A woman who was born without a uterus shared how Britain’s first uterus transplant has given her a “glitter of hope” that she will one day be able to bear her own child.

Hannah Vaughan, who lives in Cheshire, discovered at the age of 16 that she had Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome (MRKH) – a condition that means she has no uterus and is therefore unable to conceive.

The 24-year-old said the diagnosis made her feel “quite isolated” and “very different.”

However, surgeons in Britain revealed yesterday that they had performed the country’s first womb transplant in a 34-year-old woman with MRKH.

The social worker said she’sincredibly happy” that the groundbreaking procedure went well and that she “wouldn’t even think” about the same surgery.

Ms Vaughan and her partner, Luke Seddon-Rimmer (right), with whom she has worked for almost three years, are about to start their in vitro fertilization (IVF) journey after initial tests showed she had a ‘fairly low ovarian cancer rate’. ‘ had. reserve,” meaning she has a lower number of eggs in her ovaries than expected for her age

Ms Vaughan said being diagnosed with MRKH ‘was a nice feeling at that age because I was still becoming myself and always wanted to have children’.

Miss Vaughan said: ‘Even though I had a lot of people around me, I still felt isolated.

“At that age I thought I could kind of put it in the back of my mind because I’m not ready yet, but at the same time it still hit me every day and I was getting guidance at the time.”

The condition affects about one in 5,000 women.

It means that a woman was born with an underdeveloped uterus or without a uterus, cervix and upper vagina. Their ovaries and external genitalia look normal.

The first sign of MRKH is usually that a girl does not have her period. Sex can also be difficult because the vagina can be short.

Until now, the only way patients could have a biological child was to take eggs from their ovaries, fertilize them, and implant them in another woman. But this option is not available to all women with MRKH.

But a 34-year-old with MRKH revealed this week as the first person in Britain to have a uterus transplant from her sister at Churchill Hospital, Oxford, which is part of the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Ms Vaughan said the news about the transplant was ‘great’ to hear as she was told about it early in her diagnosis but thought it was ‘unlikely’ that it would have happened by the time she was ready to make plans to have children.

“When I found out I had MRKH, I thought this wasn’t going to be done when I was ready,” she said.

“I’m just so incredibly happy for that woman – bless her.

“It just gives you a glimmer of hope that if there’s that opportunity and I can do it safely and successfully, I wouldn’t even think about it.”

She added that she found comfort in the fact that the womb transplant recipient also has MRKH and that the procedure is “going well for her.”

Ms Vaughan has looked into the womb transplant procedure but said she is aware of the potential risks, including organ rejection, and said she would keep an eye on the outcome of future womb transplants.

Before receiving her new uterus, the unknown recipient underwent two rounds of fertility stimulation to produce eggs, followed by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) to create embryos.

To qualify for a womb transplant, Miss Vaughan said, “I think I would have had to have my embryos frozen (which I’m doing at the moment) and there are a lot of health tests to go forward with the treatment.”

Miss Vaughan and her partner, Luke Seddon-Rimmer, with whom she has been working for nearly three years, are in the process of starting their in vitro fertilization (IVF) journey after initial tests revealed she had a ‘fairly low ovarian reserve’ . meaning she has a lower number of eggs in her ovaries than expected for her age.

She said she would ‘like’ to have a child with Mr Seddon-Rimmer, who she says responded ‘very well’ to her condition.

“Having my own child and carrying my own child would be the most incredible thing in the whole world for me,” she said.

“Unless you have MRKH or experience with something that can reduce your chances of having children of your own, it’s hard to understand what it’s like.”