Baylor University’s Medical Center officials hosted an event for donors, recipients, and babies who have been part of its groundbreaking uterus transplant program. Women who are done having children can donate their uterus to another woman hoping to experience pregnancy.
“I have two older kids. They’re 12 and 9, and they’re the light of my life,” Bage said. “I was done with my family. We knew we were whole, so why not? Provide it for something good.”
Bage said infertility has been an issue that has remained close to her heart, so she has been a surrogate twice. For Baylor’s uterine transplant program, she recalled undergoing 6-8 months of testing to ensure the surgery would be a success. “They asked me a million times, ‘Are you sure this is something you want to do?’ They were so great in explaining every detail of everything,” she said. “The uterus and the cervix, all of that was removed surgically along with the blood supply to the nerves. They could transplant it into the recipient and reconnect all of the blood supply.”“I walked up to her and I just started crying. My heart, like, I could not tell her ‘thank you’ enough times to be able to do this,” Gibbs said.