In a medical breakthrough wrapped in a story of sisterly love, a baby girl named Amy has made history as the first child in the UK to be born from a womb transplant.
Her arrival on February 27 at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in London wasn’t just the beginning of her life—it marked a powerful milestone in modern medicine and female fertility. What makes it even more extraordinary? Her mother, Grace Davidson, carried her thanks to a life-changing gift: a womb donated by her older sister, Amy Purdie.
“We’ve been given the greatest gift we could ever have asked for,” Grace said, her voice full of gratitude and awe.
The emotional journey began when Grace, now 36, was diagnosed with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome—a rare condition that meant she was born without a functioning womb. For years, motherhood felt like a distant dream. But in February 2023, everything changed when surgeons at the Oxford Transplant Centre successfully transplanted her sister’s uterus into her body.
One year later, Amy—named in honor of her aunt—was born, surrounded by the medical team that helped make the miracle happen. Her father, Angus Davidson, recalled the overwhelming moment. “We had been kind of suppressing emotion, probably for 10 years,” he said. “And you don’t know how that’s going to come out—ugly crying, it turns out.”
Amy Purdie, 42, already a mother of two, didn’t hesitate to offer her womb so her sister could finally experience the joy of carrying her own child.
Professor Richard Smith, one of the lead surgeons, called Amy’s birth “the culmination of over 25 years of research.” And now, it opens doors for countless other women who thought they’d never be able to carry a pregnancy.
Since Sweden pioneered the first successful womb transplants in 2013, over 100 have been performed worldwide, leading to about 50 healthy babies. But this one, the UK’s first, carries the added beauty of being born not just from science—but from a sister’s sacrifice and a family’s unwavering hope.
More than just a medical feat—Amy’s birth is a story of love, science, and the unstoppable force of sisterhood.
