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Speaker 1: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda

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Speaker 1: Bungelung Calcuttin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges

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Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the

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Speaker 1: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres

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Speaker 1: Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the

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Speaker 1: first peoples of these countries, both past and present.

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Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily oz. It is

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Speaker 2: Friday the sixteenth, or September.

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Speaker 3: By it is Billy's birthday. She's joining us bride and early.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Couldn't think of a better place

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Speaker 2: to spend it.

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Speaker 3: And today is a Cracker episode. Australia's first ever uterus

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Speaker 3: transplant trial is set to take place in twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 3: In today's Deep Dive, we're going to be speaking to Kirsty,

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Speaker 3: who's hoping to receive a uterus donation from her own mother.

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Speaker 4: I will grow my child in the same uterus that

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Speaker 4: I was grown in.

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Speaker 3: The first Billy, what is making headlines this morning?

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Speaker 2: Unemployment rose to three point five percent in August, according

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Speaker 2: to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

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Speaker 2: The figure has increased by zero point one percentage points

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Speaker 2: since July, while underemployment, which measures people who did not

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Speaker 2: work as much as they wanted to decrease slightly to

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Speaker 2: five point nine percent.

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Speaker 3: The Federal Emergency Management Minister has warned the risk of

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Speaker 3: flooding on Australia's East coast is very high going into

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Speaker 3: a third laninial weather event. Murray Watt told the ABC

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Speaker 3: that areas in New South Wales and Queensland that have

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Speaker 3: already experienced flooding in recent years are likely to face

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Speaker 3: more extreme weather.

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Speaker 2: The Coral Princess cruise ship docked in Port Melbourne yesterday

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Speaker 2: and that's newsworthy because it is the first time in

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Speaker 2: over two years is that a major cruise ship carrying

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Speaker 2: passengers has arrived in Melbourne. Almost two five hundred tourists

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Speaker 2: were aboard the cruise ship, with Victorian Tourism Minister Steve

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Speaker 2: Demopolis calling it an important milestone for the state's COVID

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Speaker 2: nineteen recovery efforts.

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Speaker 3: And today's good news. The founder of outdoor clothing company

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Speaker 3: Patagonia has announced that he's given away almost all of

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Speaker 3: his company to aid in the fight against climate change.

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Speaker 3: Yvonne Schanard said in an open letter that his company

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Speaker 3: was going purpose instead of going public, with ninety eight

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Speaker 3: percent of ownership to be transferred to an environmental nonprofit.

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Speaker 2: The first uterus transplants are set to take place in Australia.

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Speaker 5: Zara.

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Speaker 2: I have to admit this is not a topic I

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Speaker 2: know a lot about, and it sounds like something kind

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Speaker 2: of out of science fiction.

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Speaker 3: It does, and it is so fascinating to me. So

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Speaker 3: when I first heard it was happening in Australia, I

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Speaker 3: was like, you, incredibly curious and did some research and

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Speaker 3: it turns out that there have been successful trials of

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Speaker 3: this kind overseas. It was pioneered by a Swedish gynecologist.

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Speaker 3: He performed the first successful uterus transplant in twenty twelve

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Speaker 3: and the first live birth from a transplant recipient was

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Speaker 3: in twenty fourteen.

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Speaker 2: So who typically are candidates for this type of transplant.

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Speaker 3: Well, the trial is focusing on those experiencing something called

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Speaker 3: absolute uterine factor infertility, which is basically a fancy medical

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Speaker 3: term for infertility caused by either absence or lack of

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Speaker 3: function in the uterus. And I think it's really interesting

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Speaker 3: because when you think of all the fertility treatments that

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Speaker 3: have become more popularized in recent years, things like IVF,

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Speaker 3: for example, there are solutions for infertility caused by issues

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Speaker 3: with ovaries or sperm, but there aren't a lot of

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Speaker 3: options available for those who don't actually have a uterus.

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Speaker 2: And so we're talking about this today because of Australia's

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Speaker 2: first uterus transplant?

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Speaker 3: Is that right exactly? And so I had a chat

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Speaker 3: to the person who is likely to be the first

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Speaker 3: in this clinical trial to receive a uterus via transplant,

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Speaker 3: and incredibly it is going to be her mother's.

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Speaker 4: My name is Kirsty Bryant. I am a mother to

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Speaker 4: one eighteen month old daughter.

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Speaker 3: Can just explain why you've put your hand up to

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Speaker 3: be a candidate in this trial?

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Speaker 4: So I unfortunately had to have a hysterectomy after the

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Speaker 4: birth of my first daughter, so unfortunately I can't carry

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Speaker 4: another child. So I in my researching in finding out

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Speaker 4: about our options for having another child, I came across

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Speaker 4: the clinical trial happening at the Royal Women's Hospital and

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Speaker 4: I shot off a few emails and I rang my

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Speaker 4: mom and I said, hey, Mom, hypothetically, if you could

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Speaker 4: have a hysterectomy and I could receive your uterus and

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Speaker 4: go on to you know, carry a child. How would

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Speaker 4: you feel? And she was like, yeah, sure, that sounds great,

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Speaker 4: no worries. So yes, I will grow my child in

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Speaker 4: the same uterus that I was grown in.

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Speaker 5: So yeah, it's very incredible. It's super exciting.

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Speaker 4: It's almost unbelievable that this is where we're going with

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Speaker 4: women's reproductive options, Like it's yeah, it's so exciting.

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Speaker 3: And so you've just said your donor is going to

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Speaker 3: be your mum. Can you just help me get my

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Speaker 3: head around what that actually means in practice?

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Speaker 5: Sure?

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Speaker 4: So my mum and I will obviously have to undergo

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Speaker 4: some scans and some tests. I have already done two

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Speaker 4: rounds of IVF tree, so we have collected eggs and

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Speaker 4: with my husband's sperm, we've created embryos and they are

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Speaker 4: on ice at the Royal Women's Hospital. So going forward,

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Speaker 4: we have a couple more investigations to go. But fingers

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Speaker 4: and toes crossed early next year, my mom and I

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Speaker 4: simultaneously would be undergoing surgery at the same time. My

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Speaker 4: mum would be having a hysterectomy, and it's a larger

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Speaker 4: surgery than just a regular hysterectomy because they will be

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Speaker 4: removing the blood vessels around the uterus, and then when

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Speaker 4: that's done, they will be transplanting her uterus into my

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Speaker 4: body previous to where my uterus was. So yeah, it's

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Speaker 4: a big surgery, but there's a great team behind it,

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Speaker 4: and I'm yeah, I'm incredibly excited and confident going ahead.

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Speaker 3: Were there other options available to you? This is obviously

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Speaker 3: the first of its kind. It's really quite amazing science,

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Speaker 3: but were there other options available before this?

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Speaker 4: There are options for women who have had hysterectomies, or

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Speaker 4: who have been born without a uterus, or have had

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Speaker 4: to have surgery because of cancer or things to remove

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Speaker 4: their uterus. So we do have surrogacy obviously fostering and adopting.

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Speaker 4: But because I am so young, well.

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Speaker 3: In how old are you, I don't if you don't

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Speaker 3: mind me, are in.

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Speaker 5: The fertility world, I'm considered young.

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Speaker 4: I'm twenty nine, so and my mum being quite young,

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Speaker 4: fit and healthy as well, we are really the ideal

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Speaker 4: candidates for this type of clinical trial. I did a

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Speaker 4: lot of research with the clinical trial and I'm just

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Speaker 4: incredibly excited Professor Jason Abbott, Doctor Rebecca Dean's and doctor

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Speaker 4: Jana Pittman are incredible, and they're incredibly passionate about women

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Speaker 4: and women's fertility, and it's just such an amazing team.

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Speaker 4: And yeah, I just can't wait.

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Speaker 3: So you said that the conversation with your mum was

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Speaker 3: a fairly quick one. Have there been further conversations along

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Speaker 3: the way about what this means for both of you?

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Speaker 5: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: After I had my daughter, I think there was a

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Speaker 4: little bit of a grieving period for everyone. My brother

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Speaker 4: actually had testicular cancer in twenty seventeen, and once he

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Speaker 4: had his chemotherapy and he had his treatment, he was

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Speaker 4: actually not able to have any more children.

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Speaker 5: So I think for my parents to.

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Speaker 4: Have two fairly young children that are unable to have

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Speaker 4: more children, I think that was sort of a lot

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Speaker 4: to get their head around. We're a very close knit family,

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Speaker 4: so I think when I came across the clinical trial

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Speaker 4: and broach the subject with my mom, there wasn't too

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Speaker 4: much to discuss. We sort of all just looked at

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Speaker 4: each other in agreement. We were like, Okay, this is

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Speaker 4: what we're doing, this is where we're going. One thing

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Speaker 4: I didn't say was that if the uterus transplant from

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Speaker 4: my mom doesn't take, I will actually be one of

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Speaker 4: the first women with the option of having the deceased

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Speaker 4: donors uterus. So I could potentially because the clinical trials

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Speaker 4: got the ethic approval for five years, if for some

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Speaker 4: reason the original like my mum's uterus doesn't take, I

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Speaker 4: will have the option down the track to have a

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Speaker 4: second try at it.

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Speaker 3: It's just science is incredible. I just can't get my

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Speaker 3: head well.

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Speaker 4: I mean in hospital, I was told multiple times that,

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Speaker 4: you know, if the type of postpartum hemorrhage that I had,

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Speaker 4: if I had had that ten years ago, I wouldn't

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Speaker 4: be here. You know, women typically died having the type

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Speaker 4: of postpartum hemorrhage that I had, so even in the

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Speaker 4: last ten years. Yeah, it's incredible. I mean, it's not

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Speaker 4: going to be for everyone. Not everyone is going to

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Speaker 4: want to have, you know, to have this option. But

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Speaker 4: I think that's what it's about. It's giving people choice.

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Speaker 4: You know, I didn't have the choice in the moment

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Speaker 4: to consent to having my uterus removed. I mean, it

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Speaker 4: was a life saving surgery. But you know, I think

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Speaker 4: the more options with us as women have around our

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Speaker 4: own fertility. Yeah, it's just incredible. I'm so lucky to

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Speaker 4: be living in twenty twenty two and fingers and toes

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Speaker 4: crossed for a really positive outcome for twenty twenty three.

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Speaker 5: It's so exciting.

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Speaker 3: It's the most amazing story and I yeah, I'm just

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Speaker 3: so excited for you to have this option available to you.

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Speaker 3: So best of luck with everything will be following closely, No.

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Speaker 5: Worries, Zara, Thank you so much for having me.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for joining us on the Daily Ods. If

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Speaker 2: you've learned something from today's episode, don't forget to hit

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Speaker 2: subscribe so there's a TDA episode waiting for you every

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Speaker 2: weekday morning. We'll be back again next week, but until then,

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Speaker 2: have a great weekend.