There have been stories in the past of family members donating their organs to their mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters. But now, a British woman is taking things a step further: she plans to donate her womb to her 25-year-old daughter, who was born without reproductive organs.
Eva Ottosson, 56, announced today that she has agreed to the uterus transplant, which would give her daughter, Sara, the opportunity to become pregnant, the BBC reported. The procedure could happen next spring in Sweden.
Sara Ottosson, who lives in Sweden, has Mayer Rokitanksy Kuster Hauser syndrome, and was born without a uterus.
“She needs the womb, and if I’m the best donor for her … well, go on. She needs it more than me. I’ve had two daughters so it’s served me well," Eva told The Telegraph.
If the transplant goes well, Sara's eggs will be fertilized with sperm from her boyfriend, and implanted into her new womb.
Mayer Rokitansky Kuster Hauser syndrome is rare, and only affects one out of about 4,500 women, according to a 2006 study in the Journal of Negative Results in Biomedicine. Women with the syndrome have an absence of their upper vagina and uterus.
The only other womb transplant was conducted in 2000 in Saudi Arabia, according to the BBC, where a womb was transplanted from a 46-year-old to a 26-year-old. But complications prompted the removal of the womb 99 days after the procedure.