Woman Becomes Mother at 44 After Ovaries Frozen During Cancer Battle 25 Years Ago
Groundbreaking treatment allows Kassandra Bacon to have a child using ovarian tissue stored since she was 18, marking a potential milestone for cancer survivors.
Kassandra Bacon, now 44, has given birth to a baby boy, David, using ovarian tissue that was frozen when she was 18, shortly before beginning treatment for an aggressive form of Hodgkin lymphoma. The procedure, which resulted in a September 9 birth, is being recognized as a significant advancement, representing the longest duration egg tissue has been stored before successful transplantation leading to pregnancy.
Bacon was diagnosed with the rare blood cancer days before her 19th birthday in 2001. Despite her desire to preserve her fertility, she was told that immediate high-dose chemotherapy was necessary for survival. She advocated for an experimental procedure at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, which involved freezing and storing a thin slice of her ovaries with the hope of future transplantation.
Her eggs were preserved in May 2001 by an NHS team led by embryologist Martyn Blayney. The technique involved freezing tiny samples of ovarian tissue containing immature eggs. This tissue is later grafted back onto the ovaries, with the aim of it responding to hormones, resuming a menstrual cycle, and releasing eggs.
Bacon survived her cancer, but the intensive treatment, including chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, caused irreparable damage to her ovaries. By age 32, she and her partner decided to start a family and were informed she was menopausal with no viable follicles.
Undeterred, Bacon embarked on a decade-long quest to find a specialist willing to perform the transplant. She consulted eight fertility specialists in the UK and Brussels, but all declined, partly due to the lack of relevant paperwork since the tissue was frozen before UK regulations on tissue storage were introduced in 2007.
She eventually found Professor Dror Meirow at the Sheba Medical Centre in Israel, who agreed to perform the transplant. Her ovarian tissue, which had been stored at Bourn Hall Fertility Clinic in Cambridge for two decades, was transported to Israel. The journey was delayed by the October 7 attacks and the subsequent war in Gaza, but Bacon was able to travel for the operation in May 2024.
Months after the transplant, she experienced her first period in years, confirming the procedure's success. On Christmas Day 2025, she discovered she was pregnant.
The entire treatment process was self-funded, costing Bacon £50,000. She has initiated a Go Fund Me campaign to help cover these expenses, emphasizing that access to fertility restoration should not be contingent on financial means.
Dr. Sara Matthews, a London-based consultant gynecologist who assisted Bacon, described the procedure as a "scientific milestone." She urged the NHS to consider funding similar ovarian tissue transplants for other women, stating, "The NHS committed to doing the [ovarian tissue storage] in the first place, they should at least commit to putting it back in for them."
Worldwide, approximately 350 babies have been born from women who have undergone ovarian transplantation since the first live birth from such a procedure in 2004.