'Simply A Miracle': Baby Boy Born To UK Mother After Womb Transplant From Dead Donor

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Last Updated:February 25, 2026, 08:34 IST

Hugo Powell is the first baby to be born to a mother who had received a womb transplant from a deceased donor.

The delivery room was filled with giggles and happy tears as a baby boy named Hugo made history, becoming the first child in the United Kingdom to be born to a mother who had received a womb transplant from a deceased donor.

Hugo Powell was delivered at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in London. At the time of birth, he weighed 3.09kg (6lb 13oz), after his mother, Grace Bell, received a transplanted womb from a dead donor.

Baby Hugo’s birth is only the first birth in the UK using a transplanted womb from a deceased donor.

Grace Bell, an IT programme manager, was born with rare Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, a condition resulting in either an underdeveloped or a missing womb. In this case, she was born without a womb and didn’t have periods.

A baby has become the first child in the UK to be born using a womb transplanted from a deceased donor.Hugo was born in the UK weighing nearly 7lbs.

Grace Bell says she suffers from MRKH syndrome, meaning she was born without a womb and doesn’t have periods. She does, however,… pic.twitter.com/NIvR6IOi6j

— MoCrown👸 Modupe Adeboye-Ayoroh (@msmocrown) February 25, 2026

At the age of 16, she was told she wouldn’t be able to bear children.

Bell and her partner Steve Powell were hoping for a womb transplant or surrogacy to have babies. For the couple, the moment came when Bell received a phone call saying a womb had been donated and a transplant was possible, BBC reported.

‘A PART OF HER WILL LIVE ON FOREVER’

Bell recalls being “in complete shock". “I think of my donor and her family every day and pray they find some peace in knowing their daughter gave me the biggest gift: the gift of life," Bell said.

“A part of her will live on forever", she added, as quoted by BBC.

Bell’s womb transplant operation, which took place at The Churchill Hospital in Oxford in June 2024, lasted 10 hours before the couple received IVF treatment some months later.

Later, an embryo transfer was made at The Lister Fertility Clinic in London. When Hugo was born, Bell said, “It was simply a miracle", reported the outlet.

Location :

London, United Kingdom (UK)

First Published:

February 25, 2026, 08:34 IST

News world 'Simply A Miracle': Baby Boy Born To UK Mother After Womb Transplant From Dead Donor

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