Pennsylvanian mom, Jennifer Gobrecht has successfully given birth after receiving uterus from a deceased donor. Her first born, Benjamin Gobrecht is the second child to be born using this frontier medical procedure.
Gobrecht, who as diagnosed with Mayer–Rokitansky–Kuster–Hauser or MRKH syndrome at the age of 17. It is a genetic condition that causes the vagina and uterus to be absent or underdeveloped.
For women like Gobrecht, carrying a child seemed impossible. "My husband and I have always wanted to grow our family, but we knew the limited options meant it might never happen," Gobrecht said in a new release.
In 2018, she and her husband were selected to be part of a clinical research on uterine transplantation by Penn Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The ongoing study aims to give women with uterine factor infertility to carry their own child.
"I hope that this process can be another mainstream option for couples hoping to have children that don't necessarily have the option to do it the standard, natural way," Gobrecht said in an interview. She and her husband call the birth of their son a miracle.
Like most couples, Gobrecht and her husband were skeptical at first. They knew that there were risk involved and they had to wait for a donor.
The procedure which lasted 10 hours involved placing the uterus and connecting the blood vessels. The organ will then be removed once the recepients successfully carries and delivers the baby.
According to a study, almost 5 percent of women all over the world are affected by uterine factor infertility. Uterine transplantation gives these women hope and a way to give birth without using gestational carriers or surrogates.
The clinical research also aims to learn more about uterine transplantation and how cells from different donors and recepients interact and affect the outcome. Penn Medicine is currently studying the samples from Gobrecht's procedure that can potentially benefit other women.