Pa. girl survives long-awaited lung transplant
Sarah Murnaghan, a 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl with cystic fibrosis whose family fought to have young children prioritized for adult organs, received new lungs Wednesday, her family told CNN.
Her surgery took about six hours, and there were no complications resizing or transplanting the adult lungs, according to family spokeswoman Tracy Simon.
A statement said the family was elated and that the doctors say Sarah's prognosis is good.
"We expect it will be a long road, but we're not going for easy, we're going for possible. And an organ donor has made this possible for her," the family said, calling the family of the deceased person who donated the lungs "true heroes."
Sarah "did extremely well" and was in intensive care after the procedure, Simon said.
The parents' push for an organ transplant policy change has thrust the issue of who gets donated organs into the national spotlight. Earlier this week, the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network's executive committee approved a one-year change that makes children younger than 12 eligible for priority on adult lung transplant lists.
Sarah received lungs donated by an adult, according to Simon, meaning the lungs needed to be modified. An OPTN news release said Monday that since 2007 only one patient younger than 12 had received adult lungs.
Sarah has been in and out of hospitals her entire life, but her condition worsened this year. Her lungs had been deteriorating rapidly over the past few months -- much faster than anyone in her family expected. In May, doctors told her mother, Janet Murnaghan, that Sarah had less than five weeks to live.
"We knew at some point, she would need new lungs," her father, Fran Murnaghan, said in May. "We had hoped it would be much further down the road, but the disease has progressed."
At that time, Sarah had been on the waiting list for new lungs for 18 months.
Sarah Murnaghan, a 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl with cystic fibrosis whose family fought to have young children prioritized for adult organs, received new lungs Wednesday, her family told CNN.
Her surgery took about six hours, and there were no complications resizing or transplanting the adult lungs, according to family spokeswoman Tracy Simon.
A statement said the family was elated and that the doctors say Sarah's prognosis is good.
"We expect it will be a long road, but we're not going for easy, we're going for possible. And an organ donor has made this possible for her," the family said, calling the family of the deceased person who donated the lungs "true heroes."
Sarah "did extremely well" and was in intensive care after the procedure, Simon said.
The parents' push for an organ transplant policy change has thrust the issue of who gets donated organs into the national spotlight. Earlier this week, the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network's executive committee approved a one-year change that makes children younger than 12 eligible for priority on adult lung transplant lists.
Sarah received lungs donated by an adult, according to Simon, meaning the lungs needed to be modified. An OPTN news release said Monday that since 2007 only one patient younger than 12 had received adult lungs.
Sarah has been in and out of hospitals her entire life, but her condition worsened this year. Her lungs had been deteriorating rapidly over the past few months -- much faster than anyone in her family expected. In May, doctors told her mother, Janet Murnaghan, that Sarah had less than five weeks to live.
"We knew at some point, she would need new lungs," her father, Fran Murnaghan, said in May. "We had hoped it would be much further down the road, but the disease has progressed."
At that time, Sarah had been on the waiting list for new lungs for 18 months.