人物:通过子宫移植创造出来的小生命(1)

It was one morning last November when Jennifer Gobrecht arrived at Philadelphia's Penn Medicine hospital at the University of Pennsylvania

去年11月的一个早晨，詹妮弗·戈布雷希特到达费城宾夕法尼亚大学的Penn Medicine医院，

for what the 33-year-old events planner assumed would be a routine checkup with her OB-GYN.

这位33岁的活动策划者以为这只是她的常规产科检查。

Eight months pregnant, the first-time mother had had no complications up to that point,

怀孕八个月以来，第一次当妈妈的她到目前为止没有任何并发症，

but tests that day showed that her blood pressure was high—

但是那天的检查表明她的血压很高——

and by the next afternoon she was in an operating room being prepped for a Cesarean.

到第二天下午，她就已经在为剖腹产做准备的手术室里了。

Minutes later, clutching her husband Drew's hand as Nirvana played in the background,

几分钟后，在涅槃乐队的背景音乐中，詹妮弗紧紧抓住丈夫德鲁的手，

Jennifer delivered a healthy baby boy they named Benjamin Thomas Gobrecht.

生下了一个健康的男婴，他们给他起名叫本杰明·托马斯·戈布雷希特。

“We have such a crazy journey to parenthood,” says Jennifer.

詹妮弗说：“我们成为父母的旅程太疯狂了。”

“Yet somehow we've been blessed with the most angelic little miracle.”

“但无论如何，这个天使般的小奇迹让我们倍感荣幸。”

It was a blessing¹ Jennifer thought might never come her way.

詹妮弗曾经以为这种荣幸永远不会发生在她身上。

Because of a rare condition called Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome² (MRKH), Jennifer had been born without a uterus.

由于发生了一种罕见的疾病，即所谓的先天性无阴道综合征（MRKH），詹妮弗出生时没有子宫。

But thanks to groundbreaking new science,

但是多亏了开创性的新科学，

she's now one of eight women in the U.S. who have given birth following a uterus transplant.(The first was in Sweden in 2014.)

她现在已经成为美国八名子宫移植术后分娩的女性之一（第一例是2014年出现在瑞典）。

“Having a family has always been a dream of mine,” says Jennifer,

“有一个家庭一直是我的梦想，”詹妮弗说，

who underwent the 10-hour uterus transplant procedure in fall 2018, as part of a research trial at Penn Medicine.

她在2018年秋天接受了Penn Medicine长达10个小时的子宫移植手术，这是Penn Medicine的一项研究实验。

Six months later doctors successfully implanted an embryo³ the couple had created through IVF.

六个月后，医生成功将这对夫妇通过试管授精创造的胚胎植入她体内。

“The vast majority of people with MRKH aren't going to have a uterus transplant,”says Dr.Kathleen O'Neill, medical director of the program at Penn Medicine.

Penn Medicine的医学项目主任凯瑟琳·奥尼尔博士说：“绝大多数患有MRKH的人都不会进行子宫移植。”

“But knowing that it's possible and understanding the option is beneficial to the entire community.”

“但人们应该知道这是可能实现的，并且这种选择对整个社区都是有益的。”

Jennifer still remembers that “very difficult day” in 2004 when she was told she would never be able to carry a child.

詹妮弗仍然记得2004年那“非常艰难的一天”，当时她被告知她永远无法生育孩子。

The high school junior in Drexel Hill, Pa., had gone to the doctor—who was concerned because she hadn't yet started menstruating.

当时的她还是宾夕法尼亚州德雷克塞尔希尔的一名高中生，她去看了医生，她很担心，因为她的月经还没有来潮。

“I just thought I was a person who got their period late in life,”she says.

她说：“我以为我只是月经来潮比较晚的那种人。”

But instead tests revealed MRKH, a congenital condition affecting 500,000 women in the U.S., in which the reproductive organs don't develop properly.

但是相反，检查显示我有MRKH，一种先天性疾病，在美国影响着500000名女性，她们的生殖器官发育不正常。

“I didn't even know something like this existed,” she says.“Even my doctor didn't know much about it.”

她说：“我甚至都不知道存在这种疾病，连我的医生对此也不太了解。”

1 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

2 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

3 embryo   

n.胚胎，萌芽的事物

参考例句：

• They are engaging in an embryo research.他们正在进行一项胚胎研究。
• The project was barely in embryo.该计划只是个雏形。