Margaret Lloyd-Hart was twenty-nine-years-old and going through menopause.
Instead of going childless and suffering through an early so-called "old age," she went and did something about it. Something that kicks major ass: she underwent an experimental ovarian graft procedure and made world history...
What more needs to be said than this, Newsweek's report on the procedure:
Last year surgeons removed Margaret Lloyd-Hart's second ovary after
problems with cysts, but the Arizona ballerina, now 30, wasn't ready to
give up on fertility. So doctors froze the tissue. With both ovaries
gone, she was menopausal. She started hormone-replacement therapy, but
was unhappy with side effects. So doctors at New York Methodist
Hospital thawed her ovary, threaded strips of it onto a biodegradable
"frame," and inserted it near her fallopian tubes. After a whopping
dose of hormones, the eggs embedded in her ovarian tissue were back in
action: she ovulated and menstruated, a groundbreaking result. Her
surgery was the first to restore ovulation through ovarian tissue
transplant. Although Lloyd-Hart says she isn't trying to get pregnant,
the new technique could one day help other women overcome infertility.
Ah, piece of cake, right? Yep, all in a day's historical work at New York Methodist and Lloyd-Hart walks out with her whole life turned around for the better. "Cocktail, doctor?" "Yes, doctor, why not?"
Lloyd-Hart is the first woman to see her menopause reverse, which is indeed cause for celebration. Even more so is the realization that this woman has had a rough life and this may be the best thing that has happened to her in ages:
The 30-year-old who lives in
Arizona, had an ovary removed last year to treat a benign medical
condition. Her other ovary had been taken out when she was 17 because
of a cyst.
Experts at Leeds and elsewhere
were keen to stress that the release of an egg did not mean that Ms
Lloyd-Hart could have a successful pregnancy. [However, the] new procedure also opens up the possibility of donor ovaries being transplanted into infertile women.
Well, we're still holding out hope for our girl MLH. Read more at the BBC.
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