Adult lungs given to 10-year-old girl
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta says the biggest concern about Sarah Murnaghan's recovery is whether her body will reject her new lungs. The 10-year-old, who has cystic fibrosis, is recovering tonight after a six-hour surgery. Her parents fought so she could be eligible for priority on an adult organ list; the lungs she received were donated by an adult.
The family spokeswoman provided this statement Wednesday night:
We are thrilled to share that Sarah is out of surgery. Her doctors are very pleased with both her progress during the procedure and her prognosis for recovery. Sarah went into surgery around 11 a.m. and was prepped and ready for the adult donor lungs when they arrived at the hospital. The procedure lasted about six hours and the family received regular updates throughout the day. The surgeons had no challenges resizing and transplanting the donor lungs – the surgery went smoothly and Sarah did extremely well. She is in the process of getting settled in the ICU and now her recovery begins. 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.
We are elated this day has come, but we also know our good news is another family’s tragedy. That family made the decision to give Sarah the gift of life –and they are the true heroes today.
We also want to thank Dr. Thomas Spray, who performed the surgery and Sarah’s team of doctors and dedicated nurses who were with Sarah every step of the way. We also want to thank all the people who supported Sarah and our family through this process.
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Post by: Dr. Sanjay Gupta Filed under: Medical News |
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Keep calm and donate organs!
Lord bless the little girl make her recover well.
Bless this child o Lord. May her recovery be with success and this young princess grow to a beautiful woman inside and out.
I am thrilled for Sarah and her family. If I was her mom I would have fought just as hard for a policy change and as they did would have gone around the system. I think the issue is a very complicated one. If I had a loved one on a transplant list not receiving an organ because someone went around the system, I would be making a lot of noise. I don't think that this process will never be a balanced one. Another point that I would like to raise is the fact that in Sarah's case, what caused her lungs to fail is her existing cystic fibrosis conditions, and there is no cure for that (it is my underatanding), Does it mean that years from now she will need another transplant? I am sincerely thrilled for her and her family and wish them well. I feel that these are important questions/ issues to raise, specially if the policy will change. I have heard all sorts of opinions and possible ideas, including an implied consent in case of a death as a result of an automobile accident. I am not an organ donor: medicine has changed dramatically over the years and I think that the definition of brain dead is not yet on all codes. I feel that I need to have directive documents in place to instruct according to my wishes when it is time to let me go and what to do with the "me" that is no longer recognizable.
I am very glad that Sarah received the lung transplant. I am very optimistic that Sarah will have a full recovery. God bless the donor and the doctors and the judge
A true miracle! God bless the donor.
My son's girlfriend is on the transplant list for a double lung transplant. She was born with cystic fibrosis. Now is she being put at the end of the line because she is in her 20's? We pray every day that the call will come. Please ask people to join organ donor lists.