Uterus transplant at Sydney’s Royal Hospital for Women: Michelle Hayton gives womb to Kirsty Bryant

A young mother underwent Australia’s first womb transplant and hopes to soon be able to carry her second child in the womb she grew up in thanks to a generous gift from her mother.

Kirsty Bryant, 29, and her mother Michelle Hayton, 53, from Coffs Harbor on the New South Wales central coast, underwent successful surgery at Sydney’s Royal Hospital for Women on January 10.

Ms Bryant lost her uterus in an emergency hysterectomy due to significant bleeding after the birth of her first daughter, Violet, in 2021.

The mother-daughter duo shared their unique medical journey on 60 minuteswith the episode scheduled to air on Sunday.

In a preview clip for the episode, Ms. Bryant explained, “I’m going to carry a baby in the same womb I grew up in.”

Ms Hayton said she was shocked by the procedure when Ms Bryant first told her about it.

“I was like, ‘Excuse me, is that something?'” he said.

Womb transplants were tested in Australia for the first time this year at two Sydney hospitals.

Earlier, Ms Bryant said the procedure was “quite difficult to understand”.

“But I know this is my only option to have another baby,” she told the abc in September.

“It’s an amazing gift my mom is giving me – she’s incredibly generous and it’s the reason I wanted to be a mom in the first place.”

The project was led by gynecologist and fertility specialist Rebecca Deans at the Royal Hospital for Women.

He explained that uterus transplants are unusual in that the organ is only given temporarily due to the immunosuppressive drugs the patient needs.

“This is different from other forms of organ transplants in that it is a temporary transplant that typically lasts around five years, long enough to allow a woman to have children,” Dr. Deans said.

Ms Hayton (left) donated her uterus to her daughter (right) after Ms Bryant lost her uterus in an emergency hysterectomy due to major bleeding in 2021

Ms. Bryant’s surgery was one of 12 Dr. Deans and his team will perform throughout 2023.

Six of the donated uteruses are from living donors, while six are from deceased donors.

‘The living donor is always an altruistic donor; Usually around the world they have been someone like a sister, mother, cousin or close friend,” Dr. Deans told ABC.

‘Deceased donors are people who have died prematurely; sometimes from a car accident or a brain hemorrhage, some very unfortunate event.

The surgeries are being supervised by Professor Mats Brännström, the doctor behind the world’s first successful uterus transplant in Sweden in 2012.

She will live in Sydney for much of 2023 to supervise the doctors performing the transplants at the Royal Hospital for Women.