WASHINGTON: A 10-year-old American girl whose dire need for a lung transplant catapulted her into the political spotlight has learned a donor has been found and is going into surgery, her mother said yesterday.
“God is great! He moved the mountain! Sarah got THE CALL,” wrote Janet Ruddock Murnaghan on her Facebook page. The Pennsylvania girl, who is critically ill with cystic fibrosis, was entering surgery, her mother said. The operation was expected to last several hours.
The practice of transplanting adult organs into children is relatively rare. The case drew attention when the child’s family gave interviews to cable news networks and pleaded with the US government to bend the rules and allow her to be put on the list for an adult lung transplant.
She was at the top of a waiting list for children under 12, but paediatric donor lungs are far rarer than those from adults, and experts had given Sarah only a few weeks to live if doctors did not perform a transplant. It was unclear whether the donated organs came from an adult or a child.
“Please pray for Sarah’s donor, her HERO, who has given her the gift of life. Today their family has experienced a tremendous loss, may God grant them a peace that surpasses understanding,” her mother wrote. “Today is the start of Sarah’s new beginning and new life!”
AFP
