Nestled against her mother's chest, her head warm under a pink cap, Misha can enjoy a restful sleep.
This Friday, February 12, the girl has just been born, at the Foch hospital in Suresnes (Hauts-de-Seine).
A birth like no other, revealed this Wednesday, February 17, the fruit of limitless love and medical prowess which gives balm to the heart in these gloomy times.
For the first time in France, a baby was born after a uterus transplant.
Deborah, a radiant 36-year-old swimming teacher, came into the world without this reproductive organ.
Blame it on a congenital disease, Rokitansky syndrome, which affects one in 4,500 women and deprives her of the possibility of giving birth.
But now, for fifteen years, doctors have been hard at work.
Encouraged by the example of Sweden, which has been practicing it since 2014, Foch's team is determined to carry out a uterine transplant in turn.
Brigitte, the donor, is the baby's grandmother
After a mountain of research and papers, authorization was given to them in 2018. “We studied the profiles of the 250 volunteers and we selected five.
Deborah's came first, ”explains Professor Jean-Marc Ayoubi, the emblematic head of the obstetric gynecology service.
On March 31, 2019, the transplant is performed.
The donor, Brigitte, is none other than Deborah's mother.
The mother-daughter pair makes the transplant more compatible.
And even if the fifty-year-old is menopausal, the uterus itself ages very little.
In the body of the young woman, it fits perfectly.
In July, in vitro fertilization (IVF) is attempted, with success.
The 30-something will give birth to her daughter at seven months of pregnancy: a baby of 42 cm and 1.8 kg of hope.
"We often say to ourselves, with Deborah, that we have a lucky star", confides Pierre, the happy dad, who now dreams of taking the next step: the resumption of a finally normal life, at home, in Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes).
"Making the technique available to as many people as possible"
“You know, if it remains a feat, we will have succeeded emotionally, but we will have failed scientifically.
We do not want to be in the exploit, but to benefit from this technique to the greatest number ”, assures Professor Ayoubi.
In France, tens of thousands of women, perhaps 100,000, are deprived of all or part of their uterus.
Rokitansky, very young gynecological cancer, hysterectomy after a first childbirth… And sometimes the organ is there, but just doesn't work.
"It is a hope for many young girls", exclaims Amélie Victor, president of the Association syndrome of Rokitansky - MRKH, before moderating: "but this concerns only one birth and one remains cautious. , the protocols are heavy, very complicated and we lack perspective.
"Medically, it is extremely heavy," confirms Professor Michel Tournaire, who is familiar with the disease.
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The gynecologist would not be against the fact that this birth could see the emergence of a broader societal debate, in particular on surrogacy (surrogacy) for these women who cannot bear children.
The ethical debate will inevitably arise.
In Liberation, the psychoanalyst specialist in bioethics Geneviève Delaisi de Parseval called after Deborah's transplant to carry out a global reflection on "what makes a mother."
"
Soon three new transplants?
At the same time, research is continuing.
The Limoges University Hospital received in 2015 an authorization to carry out a project with donors, this time in a state of brain death.
“But no transplant has yet been performed,” confirms the French Medicines Agency.
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First uterus transplant in France: behind the scenes of an exclusive documentary
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Another hospital is in the process of filing a case.
Foch, him, had received a validation for ten women ... "The Covid delayed things, but at least three are being explored, awaiting a transplant", rejoices Professor Ayoubi.
Because of the risk of rejection, Deborah's uterus is only “temporary.
It will be taken away from him.
But before that, the possibility of a second miracle pregnancy will be given to her.
