First British baby born using transplanted womb from dead donor

A baby boy has become the first child in the United Kingdom to be born from a womb transplanted from a deceased donor.

Hugo, who is now ten weeks old, is Grace Bell, who was in her 30s and was born without a functioning womb, says it is "simply a miracle.

Bell and her partner, Steve Powell, from Kent, paid tribute to the donor and her family's incredible gift by giving their invaluable gift, while also thanking medical teams in Oxford and London who aided their journey.

The birth was described as a groundbreaking moment, according to the surgeons, who may have a similar diagnosis for many more women.

'Incredible gift'

Hugo was born at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in west London just before Christmas 2025, weighing nearly 7 pounds. Bell was born without a womb and doesn't have periods, but she does have normal ovaries, affecting one in every 5,000 women in the United Kingdom. She was told she would not be able to carry her own child at the age of 16. The couple's only alternative was to wait for a womb transplant or go down the route of survivability in order to have a baby. Bell recalls being in complete surprise and emotional after receiving a phone call that a womb had been donated and a transplant was likely. However, she was also acutely aware of the donor family's incredible gift that would enable her to carry and give birth to her own child.

I think of my donor and her family every day and hope they find some solace in knowing their daughter gave me the greatest gift: the gift of life,

Bell said. A part of her will live on forever. Bell's womb transplantation surgery at The Churchill Hospital in Oxford lasted ten hours and was completed in June 2024, before the couple underwent IVF treatment, followed by embryo transfer at The Lister Fertility Clinic in London. Bell said, It was just a miracle when Hugo was born.

I remember getting up in the morning and seeing his little face with his little dummy in, and it felt like I needed to wake up from a dream.

It was just incredible. Bell's fruitful womb transplant from a deceased donor is only one of ten such transplants taking place in the United Kingdom as part of a research study. Three children have already been killed, but this is the first baby to be born. Baby Amy was born in early 2025 by the first living womb donation in the United Kingdom. In January 2023, her mother learned of the womb of her older sister in a transplant surgery. Her sister had two children of her own when she was born. Five other womb transplants from close living relatives in the United Kingdom are planned.

Hope for women born without a womb

Amy was born in the same London hospital as Hugo. Both births' medical staff have been planning for many years. Prof Richard Smith, a consultant gynaecologist who worked at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, began researching womb transplantation more than 25 years ago and was present at Hugo's birth. A large team of people had been involved in the process, from the transplantation process to embryo transfer and then delivery itself, according to the transplant surgeon.

Bell and Powell expressed their gratitude to Smith, who also founded the charity Womb Transplant UK, by giving their son the middle name Richard. The couple may have a second baby, but surgeons may have to cut the transplanted womb. Bell is going to be saved from taking a lifetime of powerful drugs to shield the body's immune system from attacking the transplanted organ. Isabel Quiroga, a transplant surgeon and joint team leader, said Hugo's birth delighted and that organ transplantation in the United Kingdom had been a success.

Very few babies have been born in Europe as a result of their mothers receiving a womb from a deceased donor,

she said.

Our trial is investigating whether this procedure could be used and regular treatment for some of the increasing number of women of child-bearing age who do not have a viable womb.

The birth of the girls and young women who were told they didn't have a womb now have a separation for carrying their own children. There are no genetic links with the donor in a baby born following the transplantation of a womb from a deceased donor. More than 100 womb transplant surgeries have been performed around the world, and more than 70 healthy babies have been born as a result.

Donating a womb for transplant is not like transplanting other organs, such as the kidneys or heart; it is only permitted through a special request from prospective donors' families who have already agreed to donate their relative's organs. If you have chosen not to donate your organs, it is likely that you have promised to be an organ donor when you die. The donor's parents, who wish to remain anonymous, expressed tremendous pride in the legacy left by their daughter. She gave five other organs to four people who were transplanted.