UK Woman Becomes First To Give Birth After Womb Transplant From Dead Donor

A baby boy named Hugo Richard Powell made history as the first baby born to a mother who had received a womb transplant. The womb was donated by a family whose daughter had recently died. Hugo was born in December 2025, weighing about 3.09 kg at the time of birth. His birth has been widely described as a “miracle” by his mother, Grace Bell, as she had never imagined she would have a healthy baby due to a medical condition.

Impossible to Reality

Grace Bell, an IT programme manager, was born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, a rare condition that meant she did not have a fully developed womb and was told in her teens that carrying a child herself would never be possible.

She was heartbroken, believing her dream of giving birth to a child would never become a reality. This changed after she took part in a specialised womb transplant treatment in 2024. She underwent a transplant procedure where a uterus from a deceased donor was successfully transplanted into her body.

Bell began fertility treatment several months after the transplant, and months later, she became pregnant. “It’s simply a miracle. I never, ever thought that this would be possible,” she told the BBC.

Bell and her partner, Steve Powell, gave Hugo the middle name Richard, after Prof Richard Smith, the clinical lead at the charity Womb Transplant UK and a consultant gynaecological surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS trust, who played a crucial role in making the birth possible.

Hugo’s life began with an act of generosity. His mother received her womb from a woman who had died and whose family agreed to donate her organs, including her uterus. The organs of the deceased's body were also donated to four other people.

The donor’s parents said, “Losing our daughter has shattered our world in ways we can barely put into words.” They added, “Through organ donation, she has given other families the precious gift of time, hope, healing and now life. As her parents, we feel tremendous pride at the legacy she leaves behind, a legacy of compassion, courage and love that continues to touch lives even after her passing.”

The transplanted organ will be removed when the couple have finished having children, to save Bell from a lifetime of taking immunosuppressant drugs.