A woman who had her ovary removed and frozen as a child has had the organ implanted back into her body so she can become a mother.
If the transplant proves successful and she falls pregnant, Moaza Alnatrooshi will be the first woman in the world to conceive using an ovary frozen before puberty and transplanted back into the body.
Alnatrooshi told the Sunday Times that nothing made her happier than using her own ovary to try and have a baby.
She added: "I want to believe I will be pregnant. I cannot wait for that day."
Alnatrooshi, 23, from Dubai, had her ovary removed and frozen when she was just eight years old after being diagnosed with a blood disorder called beta thalassaemia.
To treat the illness, she had chemotherapy followed by a bone marrow transplant.
However because chemotherapy can cause damage to the ovaries, specialists removed and froze one of Alnatrooshi's ovaries in the hope that she would one day be able to have children.
Last year, Alnatrooshi’s frozen ovary was sent from London to Denmark, where it was transplanted back into her body.
Alnatrooshi and her husband have since undergone IVF treatment in a bid to get pregnant. Eight eggs were collected and three embryos have been produced.
One of the embryos is expected to be implanted next month and doctors have said they are confident that Alnatrooshi will fall pregnant because of her age.
The 23-year-old shared a message for other women affected by infertility, telling them not to give up.
She said: "I would like to say to all women that they have got to have hope."
Her gynaecologist, Dr Sara Matthews from the Portland Hospital for women and children, said the treatment had huge potential to help young girls who develop cancer or other conditions which require chemotherapy to one day have their own children.
In November 2014, a 27-year-old woman gave birth to a healthy baby boy after undergoing an ovarian tissue transplant.
Her ovary had originally been removed and frozen when she was 13 years old, during puberty.
If Alnatrooshi's ovary, which was taken prior to puberty, helps her fall pregnant then it will be a huge step forward for girls affected by cancer at a young age.
Professor Geeta Nargund, medical director of Create Fertility, told The Huffington Post UK: "If this is successful, it would be a breakthrough to help pre-pubertal girls diagnosed with cancer to preserve their fertility.
"Ovarian freezing and transplantation is still an experimental technique and we need further large studies.
"Women in reproductive years diagnosed with cancer can freeze their eggs or embryos prior to cancer treatment to preserve their fertility. This is available on NHS and has proven successful.
"However, for pre-pubertal girls who are unable to freeze eggs, ovarian tissue freezing can be the only option to preserve their future fertility."
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