Amother's GIFT

In December last year, Australia’s first uterus transplant recipient, Kirsty Bryant, gave birth to Henry, a happy, healthy baby boy. The uterus that had made this little miracle possible had been donated by her mother, Michelle. Five months later, their first Mother’s Day since Henry’s birth feels especially precious.

- GENEVIEVE GANNON

Baby Henry Bryant is asleep, unaware of the hum of activity around him. For his photo shoot with The Weekly, his mother, Kirsty, has dressed him in a smart blue outfit, from which his soft, pudgy legs dangle as he flops in her arms, exhausted. He is just three months of age, but he has already been part of a big adventure – a huge, game-changing, Australian-first operation that will alter the fate of women who have been told they’ll never carry a baby. His adorably pinchable cheeks are a testament to the courage and determination of his mother and grandmother, and the skill and tenacity of a medical team, led by Associate Professor Rebecca Deans. As Kirsty buzzes around her home on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales and her mum Michelle Hayton plays with three-year-old Violet, you get the impression there’s nothing these women can’t do.

Kirsty is the first Australian uterus transplant recipient and Michelle is the first donor. In 2021, Kirsty nearly died giving birth.

She only survived the terrifying ordeal thanks to an emergency hysterectomy, which left her unable to have any more children. She awoke from surgery in a haze of conflicting emotions. She was both relieved and crushed. “It broke my life into before and after,” she says.

Some women lose their uteruses to cancer or traumatic events. Younger women who are diagnosed with conditions like Mayer-Rokitansky-KüsterHauser syndrome, which causes an underdeveloped or absent uterus, learn during their teenage years that they will not be able to carry a baby. They worry about forming relationships.