‘Miracle son’ for woman who thought she may never conceive after bone marrow transplant

A woman who thought she might never be able to conceive after a bone marrow transplant today thanked doctors for helping her have a “miracle son”.

Lauren West, 23, overcame the odds to give birth to a “happy and healthy” child, Alexander, after years of care from St George’s hospital, in Tooting.

She had been diagnosed with Fanconi anaemia, a rare and severe congenital disease, at the age of seven after it was detected in her younger sister Holly at birth. The disease meant she had only a 15 per cent chance of getting pregnant and her chances were reduced further, to less than eight per cent, by the chemotherapy required for the bone marrow transplant.

Chemotherapy was used as preparation for the transplant as opposed to the traditional radiotherapy treatment, which can have an even greater impact on fertility. Ms West was able to conceive naturally and, under the supervision of multiple teams of medics led by consultant haematologist Dr Mickey Koh, gave birth last October.

Doctors said the way the transplant was carried out, and the monitoring of the pregnancy, enabled its success.

Ms West, who lives with partner Ian Gasson in Lingfield, Surrey, said: “I am so grateful for all the care given at St George’s, particularly by Dr Koh but from all the teams involved in mine and Alexander’s care.

“Ian and I are so blessed to have our miracle son — we have the family I never thought I would have. I am so thankful.” Fanconi anaemia occurs in one in 160,000 people worldwide. It is predominantly a blood condition and can cause leukaemia and fertility problems.

Ms West had waited until the age of 16 to undergo the bone marrow transplant at St George’s in 2012 — with elder sister Steph the donor — as she did not experience any physical symptoms. After becoming pregnant, she had regular check-ups with medical genetics and high risk obstetric teams led by Dr Ingrid Watt-Coote at St George’s.

Dr Koh said: “I’ve known Lauren since the beginning of her diagnosis and it has been wonderful to see her successfully navigate this journey from having a successful stem cell transplant during her adolescence and recovering from that to now having a healthy baby.

“She is currently off all medication from her transplant and the blood condition has been successfully cured. Her bone marrow is now effectively 100 per cent donor.”

Professor Sahar Mansour, consultant in clinical genetics at St George’s, who screened and diagnosed Ms West, said: “Making an early diagnosis has led to prompt treatment including finding a safe and suitable donor in Lauren’s sister, which in turn has led to a healthy baby boy — it’s fantastic news.”