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Imagine receiving an organ transplant that would allow you to give birth with the same uterus that once carried you. Is your head spinning yet?
Well, if all goes according to plan, that's what doctors hope will become possible with the world's first womb transplant from mother to daughter. British-based businesswoman Eva Ottosson, 56, has agreed to donate her uterus to her 25-year-old daughter Sara, who was born without reproductive organs, the Telegraph reports.
The groundbreaking operation could take place as early as next spring in Sweden, the Telegraph says. The only other womb transplant took place in Saudi Arabia in 2000, but the organ was removed less than four months later when the transplanted tissue began to die, according to the BBC.
Neither Ms. Ottosson nor Sara appear to have any hesitations about sharing the same womb.
"My daughter and I are both very rational people and we both think, 'it's just a womb,'" Ms. Ottosson told the Telegraph. ".... She needs it more than me. I've had two daughters so it's served me well."
Sara added: "I'm a biology teacher and it's just an organ like any other organ. But my mum did ask me about this. She said 'isn't it weird?' And my answer is no.... It would mean the world to me for this to work and to have children."
She said if the procedure fails, she will try to adopt.
According to the Telegraph, Sara has a condition called Mayer Rokitansky Kuster Hauser syndrome, which means she was born without a uterus and some parts of the vagina. She did not realize she had the condition until she was a teenager and did not begin menstruating.
Transplanting a womb is extremely complicated, but a successful operation would mean Sara may be able to reproduce using her own eggs, fertilized with her boyfriend's sperm and implanted into the donated uterus.
Now imagine being in Ms. Ottosson or her daughter's shoes. Would you do the same? Tell us what you think.
Wency Leung