Melinda Arnold to undergo Australia's first womb transplant

MELINDA Arnold's dream of being a mother may become a reality thanks to Australia-first womb transplant.

Melinda Arnold

MELINDA Arnold's dream of being a mother may become a reality thanks to her selfless mum and an Australia-first womb transplant.

The Melbourne nurse will be given her mother's womb in a revolutionary operation that will be performed for the first time in Sweden early next year, the Herald Sun reported.

Mrs Arnold's operation will be performed on the Gold Coast by obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Ash Hanafy, who has collaborated for a decade with Swedish-based Dr Mats Brannstrom as they researched and prepared for the procedure.

About 10 Swedish women may have transplants next year and, if they are successful, the doctors will start accepting others into the program.

Mrs Arnold, a neo-natal intensive care nurse in a Melbourne hospital, hopes to be one of the prospective mums in the program.

She got in touch with Dr Hanafy when she heard about the new procedure.

Dr Hanafy said Mrs Arnold was born without a uterus and had tried for several years to become pregnant through IVF and surrogacy.

In 2003 her mother was given permission to act as a surrogate and carry her daughter's baby in what was a Victorian first.

Dr Hanafy said Mrs Arnold believed this was her last chance of having a baby.

The doctors believe there could be hundreds of Australian women with Mrs Arnold's condition.

"People don't know about this condition because they don't find out until they're 15 or 16," Dr Brannstrom said yesterday.

He visited Dr Hanafy after presenting his research in Cairns.

He said the once controversial topic was now being met with enthusiasm by world doctors.

"Eight or nine years ago it was going to be ethically debatable, now some people are thinking this is less ethically debatable than surrogacy," he said.

Surrogacy is not allowed in Sweden or many other European countries. "There is a demand for this kind of procedure," Dr Brannstrom said.

The doctors are in the process of preparing next year's patients for surgery, harvesting their eggs and matching donors appropriately.

"They really have to understand this is an experimental procedure," Dr Brannstrom said.

"We can't guarantee we will have a live birth. It's a long process.

"After some time we'll attempt pregnancy. That's the goal, to get a baby."

Dr Hanafy said they were hitting an exciting time and the prospect of the surgery one day coming to the Gold Coast's John Flynn Private Hospital, where he works, was great.

"I want it to be where I work," he said.

"I said (to my boss) what do you think about the first uterus transplant here in Australia taking place at John Flynn and his jaw just dropped. It's not a highly technical thing, it's all really in the service."

The surgery would take several hours and both donor and recipient would be able to leave hospital in just a few days.