Five-organ transplant patient first in world to give birth

A woman believed to be the first known five-organ transplant patient to deliver a baby has spoken of her joy.

Fatema Al Ansari, 26, from Qatar, was given a liver, pancreas, stomach and small and large intestine at a hospital in Miami, Florida, in 2007.

Six years later, she gave birth on Feb 26 at the same hospital, Jackson Memorial, with her transplant doctor on a team closely watching.

“It’s a hard feeling to express,” the new mother said of the Caesarean birth of a healthy girl, who weighed 4lb 7oz. “It’s the best feeling in the world,” she said in Arabic.

Little Alkadi Alhayal, snuggling in a white blanket and white cap, slept quietly in her mother’s arms while her parents spoke to reporters at the hospital.

Al Ansari, who plans to return home in the coming weeks, was in Miami when at 19 she was diagnosed with a blood clot in a major vein to the intestine, requiring the transplants.

Just over 600 five-organ transplants have been recorded as of 2011, the Intestinal Transplant Association has stated.

Dr Shalih Yasin, her obstetrician, said there had been some cases in Europe of births by transplant patients who had two organs “but not five”.

“We have searched all medical literature all over the world for any pregnancy that had five multi-transplants and this is the first case to our knowledge.”

Al Ansari was forced to terminate a previous pregnancy early on after her diagnosis, which made her think she would never be able to get pregnant. She said her husband, Khalifa Alhayal, gave her hope and they became parents through IVF.

“It’s not an easy pregnancy to go through,” Dr Yasin said. “One has to make sure the transplant organ is not rejected, that the medications are safe to the baby.”