Ovarian medical operation mom has spectacle baby in diagnosis that could spell finish of menopause

A woman left infertile by cancer has had a "miracle" second baby in a world first.

Stinne Bergholdt froze tiny strips of ovarian tissue before undergoing gruelling treatment for bone cancer in 2004.

After beating the disease, some of the pieces were grafted back into her body and with the help of fertility drugs she gave birth to a baby girl, Aviaja, in 2007.

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Medical marvel: Stinne Bergholdt with her daughters Aviaja (L) and Lucca. She was left infertile by cancer but had tiny strips of ovarian tissue grafted back into her body. She then conceived, first using fertility drugs and then naturally

But it has emerged that she then fell pregnant again naturally, and has given birth to a second daughter, Lucca.

She is the first woman in the world to have two babies following the complex transplant.

The technique may keep eggs fresh for up to 40 years, the journal Human Reproduction reports.

But although Mrs Bergholdt went through the menopause earlyfollowing her cancer treatment, medical experts strongly warned againstwomen using the procedure to put off the menopause indefinitely.

Dr Allan Pacey, a University of Sheffield fertility expert, said: "Noone in their right mind would do that.

"It"s too dangerous and too involved."

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Stinne with her youngest child, Lucca, who she described as a "miracle"

But he predicted that the technique would play a bigger andbigger role in helping women undergoing cancer therapy have a family.

Mrs Bergholdt, 32, of Odense in Denmark, gave birth for thesecond time in September 2008, but the success has only just been madepublic.

She said: "When I found out I was pregnant for the first timeI was of course very happy and excited - but also very afraid andsceptical.

"My cancer had been diagnosed very late ... so I also wonderedif it was really true that I was completely recovered from it. Thesecond time we hadn"t been working on it - we thought we neededassistance like the first time.

"We had an appointment at the fertility outpatient clinic totalk about the possibility of a second baby, but it turned out that Iwas already pregnant - naturally. It was indeed a miracle."

Mrs Bergholdt"s doctor, Professor Claus Yding Andersen, of theUniversity of Copenhagen, said yesterday: "This showed that theoriginal transplanted ovarian strips had continued to work for morethan four years and that Mrs Bergholdt still has the capacity toconceive and give birth to healthy children."