Now womb transplant mum plans another child – using her mother, 53, as a surrogate
ThEy have already made history – and now the family of miracle baby Luisa Santos could become even more extraordinary.
Luisa is the first in the world to be born after her mother underwent a pioneering womb transplant. Fabiana amorim de Lima, 34, received the organ from a donor who died.
now she is hoping for another child – using her 53-year-old mother as a surrogate.
The donor womb cannot be used again by Miss de Lima because of the risk of rejection. But she and husband claudio Santos have fertilised eggs left over from the iVF procedure used to conceive Luisa.
They hope to use them to try for a second baby, this time with the help of Miss de Lima’s mother Valdecy amorim alves de Miranda, who would give birth to her own grandchild.
Mr Santos, 33, said: ‘Before the transplant they removed 16 eggs, and eight were fertilised then stored. The first egg they implanted into Fabiana was successful, so there are still seven eggs there. We’re going to try implantation into my mother-in-law. if that doesn’t work they will be discarded.’
The pioneering womb transplant at a hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil, involved 11 hours of surgery. Mr Santos’s wife, who received the organ from a 45year-old donor who died after complications following a stroke, went on to carry Luisa for the full term. Their baby was delivered by caesarean last December, weighing of 5lb 10oz.
Miss de Lima, who was born without a womb, has always wanted more than one child.
Mr Santos said: ‘We want a brother or sister for Luisa and, although we can’t do the same way again, we are looking at other options.’ he said his mother-in-law, who lives with them, has agreed to attempt to implant one of couple’s fertilised eggs into her womb.
The identities of the Santos family were revealed exclusively by the Mail on Saturday, when the couple described Luisa as ‘our little miracle’.
The breakthrough gives new hope to at least 15,000 women in Britain without a womb. UK surgeons are preparing to replicate the process.