Get your news delivered straight to you by 7am - sign up to our new Morning Mail newsletter for FREE See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy NOOR QURASHI, NEWS REPORTER Published: 15:55 BST, 3 August 2026 | Updated: 23:11 BST, 3 August 2026
A baby boy named Theo has become the first in Britain to have a pioneering surgery while still in his mum's womb. Maisie Savage was operated on by a team of surgeons in Texas after her son was diagnosed with complex gastroschisis - a condition where the belly button does not develop properly and the intestines grow externally.Doctors used keyhole surgery techniques to reach the baby in Ms Savage's womb when she was 26 weeks pregnant and push his organs back inside his abdomen.Theo, who is now five months old, is said to be doing well, after becoming the third baby in the world to benefit from a clinical trial of the procedure.Ms Savage, 29, from London, and the baby's 36-year-old father, Josh French, expressed their relief at the surgery's success.She told the BBC: 'He’s a little miracle.'Mr French described the diagnosis - made after Ms Savage's 20-week scan - as 'incredibly scary'.The couple, who both work as teachers, were referred by medics at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London to Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. Ms Savage, 29, from London, and the baby's father, Josh French, expressed their relief at the surgery's success. They are pictured here together with Theo Maisie Savage was operated on by a team of surgeons in Texas after her son Theo was diagnosed with complex gastroschisis The couple are seen together in the hospital after doctors carried out ground-breaking surgery on their unborn baby Dr Michael Belfort, who led the team of paediatric surgeons, described the results as 'just remarkable', with Theo being born naturally in Texas
