November 16, 2008	Sunday	Ziqa'ad 17, 1429

LONDON, Nov 15: A German who made history after becoming the first woman to give birth following a whole ovary transplant said in a British newspaper on Saturday that she felt a “sense of completeness”.

Susanne Butscher, 39, told the Daily Telegraph that her daughter Maja would give hope to millions of infertile women around the world.

Recovering from the birth on Tuesday at the Portland Hospital in London, she said: “Being a mother at last is an indescribable feeling. I’m happy to be sharing my story with the world to give other women hope who might have similar problems.”

Experts believe the pioneering transplant treatment which Butscher had in the United States last year will benefit women who like her suffer an early menopause.

They believe it could also give new hope to women who undergo chemotherapy or radiotherapy for cancer, and who could freeze one of their ovaries before beginning treatment.

Butscher — who is from Hamburg but has lived in Britain with German husband Stephan for six years — had the transplant to halt the advance of osteoporosis which she was suffering as a result of an early menopause.

She received an ovary from her sister and began ovulating naturally for the first time.

Maja was born by elective caesarean, weighing a healthy 3.2kg. —Agencies