The birth of a child is a special event, and for Mallory and Nick, their son also made history. That's because his arrival marked the first time a uterus transplant recipient delivered a healthy baby outside of a clinical trial.
"For us, this was, this is what I felt like... I knew that I was supposed to do this," Mallory said.
The transplant and later the birth both took place at The University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Center, under the direction of Paige Porrett, M.D., Ph.D, who began the fourth uterus transplant program in the United States and is recognized as a national and international leader in the field of uterus transplantation.
"My level of enthusiasm is over the moon, if that's a way we can rank it," Dr. Porrett told CBN News.
At age 17, Mallory received the devastating news that she was born without a uterus and would not be able to experience pregnancy. That changed, however, when she and her husband learned of Mallory being approved to receive a uterus transplant.
"We were both in shock," Mallory said. "Yeah, I guess that's the best way of putting it," her husband Nick added.
Dr. Porrett said uterus transplantation can be an enormous blessing to couples.
"They get to experience the gestation together. And there are many individuals who would argue," she said, "where having a child begins essentially with that conception event, or the baby growing inside the uterus."
While about one-third of uterus transplant patients currently reject the organ within weeks, Mallory remained positive.
"I never once thought like, 'What if this doesn't work?' I knew it would," she said.
Mallory received hers from a deceased organ donor, although donors can also be living. The surgery lasts up to ten hours.
"It is a transplant," said Dr. Porrett. "I would encourage everybody to recognize that when we say transplant, it means a much more complex surgical procedure than some of the other more common procedures that people get."
Nine months after Mallory received her new uterus, doctors placed her and Nick's child, generated through in vitro fertilization, into it.
Mallory said, "I had all the stuff like nausea, and really tired and all the normal pregnancy symptoms."
She said the difficult process was definitely worth it. "I got to hold him and I was just very overwhelmed that he was actually there, and he was healthy."
For the last ten years, medical institutions have largely covered the cost of uterus transplants. However, as they become more common, that's likely to change. Currently, insurance providers generally do not cover the procedure, but that too could change.
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