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Woman gives birth after ovary transplant makes her fertile

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Woman gives birth after ovary transplant makes her fertile
Until now only partial ovary transplants possible Photo:DPA

A German woman who made history after becoming the first to give birth following a whole ovary transplant said on Saturday that she felt a “sense of completeness.”

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Susanne Butscher, 39, told The Daily Telegraph on Saturday that the birth of her daughter Maja - named after the Roman goddess of fertility - would give hope to millions of infertile women around the world.

Recovering from Tuesday’s birth at the Portland Hospital in London, she said, “Being a mother at last is an indescribable feeling. It’s been hard to take my eyes off her since she was born.

“I’m so lucky to have had this wonderful opportunity which has given me a sense of completeness I would never have had otherwise.

“I’m happy to be sharing my story with the world to give other women hope who might have similar problems.”

Experts believe the pioneering transplant treatment which Butscher had in the United States last year will benefit women who like her suffer an early menopause.

They believe it could also give new hope to women suffering cancer who undergo chemotherapy or radiotherapy, and who could freeze one of their ovaries before beginning treatment.

Butscher, who is from Hamburg but has lived in Britain with her German husband Stephan for six years, had the transplant to halt the advance of osteoporosis which she was suffering as a result of an early menopause.

She received an ovary from her sister Dorothee and began ovulating naturally. Maja was born by elective caesarean, weighing a healthy 3.2 kilogrammes (7lbs 15oz).

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