Twin tells of delight as she has baby after pioneering transplant

Nov 16 2008 By Norman Silvester

A WOMAN who became the first in the world to give birth after an ovary transplant has spoken of her joy.

Susanne Butscher, who received a whole ovary from her twin sister, gave birth to daughter Maja last week.

And as she and husband Stephan celebrated, the doctor who performed the pioeering transplant said it would bring hope to other infertile couples across the world.

Susanne, 39, a German acupuncturist living in London, now wants to have more children and says she hopes her story will encourage others.

She told the Daily Telegraph: "Being the first woman in the world to give birth after a whole ovary transplant hasn't sunk in yet.

"But I'mjust so grateful to the doctors who enabled this to happen and to my sister, of course.

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

"When I saw Maja for the first time, I just cried. She really is a little miracle."

Maja, named after a fertility goddess, weighed 7lb 15oz when she was born on Tuesday.

Dr Sherman Silber, who performed the transplant in St Louis, Missouri, said the operation could soon be routine.

He said: "This has been the culmination of 10 years of work on freezing and transplanting ovaries and it's thrilling.

"I see no reason why this technique to prolong reproductive life should not be routine for all women who want it."

He added it could allow women to freeze their ovaries and have babies later in life.

It would also allow women with cancer to freeze their ovaries before they have therapies which could destroy the organs.

Dr Silber has given ovarian tissue transplants previously but Susanne's is the first successful whole ovary transplant.

After the transplant, she began ovulating naturally for the first time.

Her twin sister Dorothy, who lives in Canada, had decided her family was already complete.

Fertility expert Dr David Conway, of Nuffield Hospital in Glasgow, yesterday said: "The difficult part is not the operation but whether the body accepts or rejects the organ."

'When I saw Maja for the first time, I just cried. She's a miracle' Susanne Butscher

THE SURGERY

IN two four-hour ops, an ovary is taken from one twin and implanted in her sister. It involves the reconnection of blood vessels just a millimetre wide. Within months, it boosts hormones and releases eggs. The couple conceive in a year.

SUNDAY EMAIL

n.silvester@sundaymail.co.uk