Woman Becomes Mother at 44 After Ovaries Frozen During Cancer Treatment 25 Years Ago
A groundbreaking procedure has allowed a woman to conceive and give birth using ovarian tissue stored since she was 18, marking a significant milestone in fertility preservation.
Kassandra Bacon, now 44, has given birth to a son, David, after a revolutionary treatment involving ovarian tissue that was frozen when she was 18 years old, just before beginning chemotherapy for Hodgkin lymphoma. This marks the longest period that egg tissue has been stored before successful transplantation leading to pregnancy, a development hailed as a global scientific milestone.
In 2001, days before her 19th birthday, Bacon was diagnosed with an aggressive form of blood cancer. Despite her concerns about fertility, doctors advised immediate high-dose chemotherapy for survival. Bacon advocated for an experimental procedure at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, where a thin slice of her ovaries was frozen with the possibility of future transplantation. The tissue contained thousands of immature eggs.
After surviving cancer, including undergoing chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, Bacon's ovaries were irreparably damaged. At age 32, when she and her partner decided to start a family, she was informed she was menopausal with no viable follicles. This led to a decade-long effort to find a specialist willing to perform the ovarian tissue transplant.
Bacon consulted with eight fertility specialists across the UK and Brussels, but all declined, citing a lack of paperwork as the tissue was frozen before UK regulations on tissue storage were introduced in 2007. She eventually found Professor Dror Meirow at the Sheba Medical Center in Israel, who agreed to perform the procedure. The ovarian tissue, which had been stored at Bourn Hall Fertility Clinic in Cambridge for two decades, was transported to Israel.
Her journey to Israel was delayed due to the October 7 attacks and the subsequent war in Gaza. In May 2024, Bacon traveled to Israel for the operation to transplant the ovarian tissue back into her ovaries. Several months later, she experienced her first period in years, indicating the procedure's success. On Christmas Day, she discovered she was pregnant.
The entire decade-long treatment path was self-funded, costing Bacon approximately £50,000. She has initiated a GoFundMe campaign to help cover these expenses, emphasizing that access to fertility restoration should not be dependent on financial means.
Dr. Sara Matthews, a consultant gynecologist in London who assisted Bacon, described the procedure as a "scientific milestone." She urged the NHS to fund 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 in 2004. Bacon's experience offers hope to thousands of women undergoing cancer treatments that can lead to infertility.