Amy Tucker: Area Woman First U.S. Cancer Survivor to Have Child from Frozen Ovary

Photo: Jennifer Silverberg

Sherman Silber: Ice sculptor.

​Add another bullet point to the already impressive resumé of St. Louis fertility expert Dr. Sherman Silber.

In May, one of Silber's patients -- Amy Tucker of Columbia, Illinois -- became the first U.S. cancer survivor to give birth as a result of ovary freezing and transplantation.

Back in 1998, Silber removed and froze one of Tucker's ovaries prior to her undergoing treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma. As predicted, the chemotherapy that cured Tucker's disease, also rendered her sterile.

This past January, Silber transplanted tissue from the Tucker's frozen ovary onto her remaining ovary, which once again kicked off menstruation. On May 27, the 32-year-old Tucker gave birth to a healthy baby boy and became the first U.S. cancer patient to give birth to a child as a result of a frozen ovary.

Some of Silber's other medical accomplishments include:

• performing the world's first vasectomy reversal in 1975
• the world's first testicle transplant in 1978
• the first tubal-ligation procedure in the U.S.
• the world's first whole ovary transplant in 2007

Read more about Silber in this 2007 RFT feature, The Egg Man.