Proud mum risked everything in the name of love and the dream of having this little bub

KATE Rootsey will celebrate Christmas tomorrow with a priceless gift - the "miracle baby'' she risked her own life to have.

Kate Rootsey in hospital with friends before her double lung transplant.

KATE Rootsey will celebrate Christmas tomorrow with a priceless gift - the "miracle baby'' she risked her own life to have.

The 33-year-old gave birth to daughter Molly 10 months ago, becoming the first Queensland woman with a double lung transplant to have a baby.

Mrs Rootsey was told growing up she would never have children after being diagnosed with cystic fibrosis soon after birth.

Just staying alive was difficult enough in her twenties.

"I was too sick to have a partner,'' she said. "I was on the shelf getting dusty.''

Doctors say she was only a few months from death when the phone call came in 2007 that changed her life. After waiting "12 months, 12 days and 12 hours'' on the transplant list, she was wheeled into surgery at the Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane to receive a new set of lungs.

A grieving family's decision to donate a loved one's organs not only saved Mrs Rootsey's life, but five years later, allowed her to create a new one.

Within months of her transplant, she met her husband John Rootsey while working in hospitality on the Gold Coast and started dreaming of having a baby.

When she broached the subject with Peter Hopkins, the Queensland Lung Transplant Service director, he was understanding, but also wary of the huge risks involved.

At that stage, no other double lung transplant recipient in Queensland had given birth.

"Kate started planting the seeds with me, saying: 'Is it possible? What would your advice be?' Associate Professor Hopkins recalled.

"Our policy is we can't suppress our patients' desires to be parents. It is a very risky undertaking, but we understand the compulsion for parenthood and we try and support them through that.''

While her medical team was prepared to support her wish to be a mother, Mrs Rootsey was also advised she may not survive a pregnancy.

Prof Hopkins said the likelihood of her body starting to reject her donor lungs during pregnancy was about 30 per cent.

"That could cause loss in lung function and ultimately, a risk to Kate's life,'' he said. "We are not entirely certain why patients are at higher risk of rejection during pregnancy, but it's likely an interplay between alterations in concentration of anti-rejection drugs in the bloodstream and the fact that pregnancy itself stimulates the immune system.''

Mrs Rootsey had the added complication of having cystic fibrosis-related diabetes.

But she was determined to be a mum. "I wasn't going to stop until it happened, basically,'' she said.

Her journey to parenthood was an adventure into the unknown for herself and her doctors. Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital obstetric physician Leonie Callaway said the medical team had very few similar cases to draw on internationally.

"There's very little known about pregnancy after lung transplantation,'' Professor Callaway said. "We just drew on our experience of looking after other patients with transplanted organs."

Mrs Rootsey had the devastation of two miscarriages before finally conceiving her daughter.

After one of the miscarriages was linked to the daily drugs she needs to stop her body rejecting her lungs, Prof Hopkins changed her medication.

"We learnt a lot from Kate's experience,'' he said. "We actually went back to traditional immuno-suppressant drugs that have been around since the early 1950s. It's formed the basis of what we're going to do for future patients.''

Molly Grace Rootsey was born 11 weeks early in the RBWH on February 16 - only the third Australian baby born to a woman after a double lung transplant.

"She's the best thing ever. I pinch myself every day when I wake up and I hear her yell out to me: 'Mum, Mum, Mum','' Mrs Rootsey said.

But she will not take the same risks again.

"I'll quit while I'm ahead,'' she said. "I've got a healthy little girl and I came out unscathed and have perfect lung function. I was extremely lucky."

Another Queensland double lung transplant recipient has given birth since Mrs Rootsey and Prof Hopkins said more were trying.

He said 297 patients had received double lung transplants in Queensland since 1996, with a record 37 this year.

To become an organ donor, talk to your family about your wishes and register at donorregister.gov.au