Like many couples in love, the hope of starting a family together is something to look forward to.
Such was the case with this sweden couple, Malin Stenberg and Claes Nilsson. But there was a major problem standing in their way. Malin has an artificial vagina due to a genetic defect called Rokitansky Syndrome where a female is born without a v@gina or uterus. She underwent surgery in her youth to get an artificial one, but knew that it still would not enable her to have kids. But Claes is a persistent fellow, and he was determined to find a way to work around the artificial v@gina situation!
He was able to get his girlfriend into a risky research project where only 9 women were selected.
The idea of the research project was to put a foreign uterus into the female bodies. Past projects had shown the body to reject a uterus from dead individuals who had donated their body parts for science.
A 61-year-old friend of the family, Ewa Rosen, stepped forward and offered up her uterus. She already had her children and agreed to allow Malin a chance to have her own. It would only be 42 days later after the transfer, that Malin ends up having her first period ever at age 35. A year later, Malin was pregnant!
The baby is developing wonderfully, but 31 weeks in Malin is forced to have a C-section due to irregularities. It remains unclear if this had anything to do with the transplant or not, but in any event the baby was delivered and is completely healthy!
It’s been a year and little Vincent is the love of their lives. He’s healthy and fit and behaving as a baby should. Malin had the foreign uterus removed so she no longer has to undergo the heavy hormone therapy. The donor, Ewa, is very close to the family and naturally a special connection exists.
The study concluded with 7 out of 9 women accepting an implanted uterus and 4 actually gave birth. It’s a pretty incredible number and it gives hope to more women, who were born without the ability to bear children, that perhaps there is a chance for childbirth after all!
Share this wonderful story with friends and family to highlight this little miracle baby who was born against all odds.
