{"id":933,"date":"2026-02-24T15:56:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T15:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/?p=933"},"modified":"2026-02-24T15:56:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T15:56:22","slug":"uk-records-first-baby-born-after-deceased-donor-womb-transplant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/24\/uk-records-first-baby-born-after-deceased-donor-womb-transplant\/","title":{"rendered":"UK records first baby born after deceased donor womb transplant"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United Kingdom has recorded its first birth following a womb transplant from a deceased donor, in what medical experts have described as a major milestone in reproductive medicine.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The baby boy, named Hugo, was delivered shortly before Christmas 2025 at Queen Charlotte\u2019s and Chelsea Hospital in west London, weighing just under 7lbs.<\/p>\n

His mother, Grace Bell, who is in her thirties, was born with Mayer-Rokitansky-K\u00fcster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome \u2014 a rare condition that leaves women without a functional womb despite having normal ovaries. The condition affects around one in 5,000 women in the UK. Bell had been told as a teenager that she would be unable to carry a pregnancy.<\/p>\n

She underwent a 10-hour transplant operation at The Churchill Hospital in June 2024, receiving a womb from a deceased donor. Months later, she began in vitro fertilisation treatment at The Lister Fertility Clinic, leading to a successful embryo transfer and pregnancy.<\/p>\n

Describing the birth, Bell said the experience felt surreal and overwhelming, calling it a miracle after years of uncertainty about motherhood.<\/p>\n

She and her partner, Steve Powell, named their son Hugo Richard in honour of Professor Richard Smith, clinical lead at Womb Transplant UK and a consultant surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Smith, who attended the birth, said the achievement followed years of teamwork and persistence.<\/p>\n

In a statement reported by British media, the donor\u2019s family said the donation had brought hope and new life to another family, expressing pride in the legacy left behind.<\/p>\n

Medical specialists have indicated that the transplanted womb will eventually be removed once the couple decide their family is complete, to prevent long-term reliance on immunosuppressant drugs.<\/p>\n

Globally, it is estimated that between 25 and 30 babies have been born following womb transplants from deceased donors, although most procedures worldwide have involved living donors. The UK\u2019s first womb transplant was carried out in 2023 using a living donor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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The United Kingdom has recorded its first birth following a womb transplant from a deceased donor, in what<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":934,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[238,237],"class_list":["post-933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-african-pulse","tag-deceased-donor-womb-transplant","tag-united-kingdom"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/baby.jpg",450,293,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/baby-300x293.jpg",300,293,true],"medium":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/baby-300x195.jpg",300,195,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/baby.jpg",450,293,false],"large":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/baby.jpg",450,293,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/baby.jpg",450,293,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/baby.jpg",450,293,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/baby.jpg",450,293,false],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/baby.jpg",450,293,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Publisher"]},"category_info":"African Pulse<\/a>","tag_info":"African Pulse","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=933"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":935,"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933\/revisions\/935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facthubafrica.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}