Uterus transplant reunion celebrates mothers and babies on Mother’s Day Weekend at the Dallas Arboretum.
Mother’s Day was more special than usual for the women who have gone through the uterus transplant program at Baylor University Medical Center. On May 7, BUMC hosted a reunion at the Dallas Arboretum for the 20 women who received a uterus transplant, the 15 babies born through the program so far and their families. Also in attendance were members of the uterus transplant team and 16 living donors, many of whom met their recipients for the first time, like donor Janice Bage and recipient Madison Gibbs.
When she was just a teenager, Madison was diagnosed with Mayer-Rokitansky- Küster-Hauser, a syndrome that results in a woman being born without a uterus or having an underdeveloped uterus. Janice, a mother of two, had already served as a surrogate twice and saw this program as another way to continue providing hope for women with dreams of motherhood but facing infertility. The two met for the first time at the reunion.
“I walked up to her and I just started crying. I could not tell her ‘thank you’ enough times to be able to do this,” Madison, now a mother of two herself, said. “I’m so, so thankful for her.”
The reunion highlighted the courage and determination of these women who fight so valiantly to become mothers against incredible odds. Liza Johannesson, MD, PhD, gynecologic surgeon and medical director of uterus transplantation at BUMC, reminded us of this when she recalled a letter written by one of the donors to her recipient, sharing her words: In my eyes you were already a mother even before you were pregnant, because mothers fight for their children.
“In my 30 years in healthcare, this is one of the most astonishing miracles we have ever been a part of.”
–Steve Newton
Chief Growth Officer, Baylor Scott & White
“I am amazed by all the women here today. I’ve never seen such hope, courage and selflessness as I have witnessed over the past six years. Despite so many years of doing this job, I never imagined I could have such a deep and emotional fulfillment from this profession as I have had working with you,” said Giuliano Testa, MD, chief of abdominal transplant at BUMC.
In 2016, philanthropic support helped launch this program, which started as a
landmark clinical trial in collaboration with Baylor Scott & White Research Institute. Now, the BUMC uterus transplant program is the first commercial program in the United States and has done more transplants and delivered more babies than any program in the world. The oldest baby born through the program is 4½ years old, and the youngest was born shortly before the reunion.
“In my 30 years in healthcare, this is one of the most astonishing miracles we have ever been a part of,” said Steve Newton, chief growth officer, Baylor Scott & White. “Our team has a restless spirit always looking for new ways to solve long-term, challenging problems. They arrived with this after watching early efforts around the world. They stepped up and said, ‘We think we can do this. We think we have the talent, and we’ve got the research base. We’ve got the commitment to make this possible.’”
