--- title: Woman Gves Birth After Transplant of Her Own Frozen Ovarian Tissue description: The case is seen as a scientific breakthrough, especially for those who lose their fertility through cancer treatments. canonical: https://time.com/3915539/woman-ovarian-tissue-transplant-frozen-ovary-birth-fertility/ author: Joanna Plucinska article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-10T07:33:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T08:04:17.878Z article:section: Health og:title: Ovarian Tissue Transplant Gives Fertility Hope og:description: A woman has given birth after a transplant of her own frozen ovarian tissue og:url: https://time.com/3915539/woman-ovarian-tissue-transplant-frozen-ovary-birth-fertility/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ovarian Tissue Transplant Gives Fertility Hope twitter:description: A woman has given birth after a transplant of her own frozen ovarian tissue twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Woman Gives Birth After a Transplant of Her Own Frozen Ovarian Tissue by [Joanna Plucinska](https://time.com/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Jun 10, 2015 7:33 AM UTC by [Joanna Plucinska](https://time.com/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Jun 10, 2015 7:33 AM UTC Over a decade ago, a bone marrow transplant left a Belgian girl infertile. Now, a transplant of her own frozen ovarian tissue has helped her get pregnant and give birth to a healthy baby boy, Sky News [reports](http://news.sky.com/story/1499192/baby-born-after-frozen-ovarian-tissue-transplant). The scientific breakthrough is likely to benefit other sick children who lose their fertility through cancer treatments. “Freezing ovarian tissue is the only available option for preserving their fertility,” Dr Isabelle Demeestere, a fertility specialist at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, told media. The details of the transplant were published in _Human Reproduction_, a medical journal. The patient, who suffered from sickle cell anemia, was 13 when her ovary was frozen and she had yet to start her period. A decade later, four pieces of the frozen tissue were transplanted onto the patient’s remaining ovary at her request. Two years after the transplant, she was pregnant, Sky News reports Doctors reportedly expect the woman’s ovary function to remain normal, allowing her to have more children in the future. \[[_Sky News_](http://news.sky.com/story/1499192/baby-born-after-frozen-ovarian-tissue-transplant)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3915539/woman-ovarian-tissue-transplant-frozen-ovary-birth-fertility/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3915539/woman-ovarian-tissue-transplant-frozen-ovary-birth-fertility/"},"headline":"Woman Gives Birth After a Transplant of Her Own Frozen Ovarian Tissue","datePublished":"2015-06-10T07:33:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:04:17.878Z","description":"Case hailed as a scientific breakthrough","url":"https://time.com/3915539/woman-ovarian-tissue-transplant-frozen-ovary-birth-fertility/","keywords":["medicine","Cancer","fertility","Belgium"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joanna Plucinska","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joanna-plucinska/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/medicine/","name":"medicine"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3915539/woman-ovarian-tissue-transplant-frozen-ovary-birth-fertility/","name":"Woman Gives Birth After a Transplant of Her Own Frozen Ovarian Tissue"}}]}] ```