Girl Wakes Up After Lung Transplant

[xdivision_whitey]

The 10-year-old girl whose family successfully fought a rule preventing her from qualifying for adult lungs has woken up nine days after receiving a lung transplant from an adult donor.

Sarah Murnaghan of Newtown Square, Pa., was able to respond to yes and no questions on Friday. Her aunt Sharon Ruddock confirmed to ABC station WPVI-TV in Philadelphia that even though Sarah is still on a ventilator she was able to communicate to her family by nodding and blinking.

On Wednesday she was moved off a heavy-duty breathing machine to a traditional ventilator.

Sarah was dying of cystic fibrosis when her family brought the Under 12 Rule, a little-known organ transplant policy, to national attention after arguing that it had been pushing Sarah to the bottom of the adult lung transplant waiting list.

The family won a court order to put Sarah on equal footing with adults on the transplant list and prompted an Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network policy change.

On June 12 Sarah underwent a lung transplant with lungs from an adult donor.

"Sarah got THE CALL," her mother, Janet Murnaghan, wrote on her Facebook page. "She will be taken back to the O.R. in 30 minutes."

There have been no reported complications from the transplant although Sarah's mother Janet Murnaghan cautioned that her recovery would be "hard and long" for the 10-year-old.

"As you all know, Sarah was very, very sick going into transplant, therefore the road out is hard and long," her mother, Janet Murnaghan, wrote on her Facebook page. "We are focusing all of our attention on Sarah and as a result are silent."

Sarah was born with cystic fibrosis, a genetic condition that affects cells that produce mucus, sweat and digestive fluid. Patients typically suffer so much lung damage that they often go into respiratory failure, which is why Sarah needs a lung transplant to survive.


Time

[Corona Licorice]

Glad to hear she's recovering!

But at the same time it makes me angry, thinking of the adults I know who get transplants to live and then decide to start smoking and drinking again, even while on dialysis! Then thinking of this girl's situation... yeah you see where I'm going with this evil

[zaptar13]

...If it works then maybe they should change that rule.

[deadguy]

zaptar13

...If it works then maybe they should change that rule.

It can work, but there's a better chance when the lung is given to an adult instead.

[Delle42]

I'm glad she got the transplant. I'm morbidly curious about what complications might be in the future, having one body part be much older than the rest of your body. At least this buys them time to worry about the rest.

[Little Red Otter]

deadguy

zaptar13

...If it works then maybe they should change that rule.

It can work, but there's a better chance when the lung is given to an adult instead.

Then it needs to be a guideline. Not a rule.

[deadguy]

Little Red Otter

deadguy

zaptar13

...If it works then maybe they should change that rule.

It can work, but there's a better chance when the lung is given to an adult instead.

Then it needs to be a guideline. Not a rule.

Why?

[Little Red Otter]

deadguy

Little Red Otter

deadguy

zaptar13

...If it works then maybe they should change that rule.

It can work, but there's a better chance when the lung is given to an adult instead.

Then it needs to be a guideline. Not a rule.

Why?

What do you mean "why"?

Look, regardless if adult lungs work better WITH adults, they can still save a life of a child. Instead of having to go through court to clear up a law temporarily, it should be a hospital guideline. The hospital can look at a child, see that she is dangerously close to death and say "Look. We know we try to save adult lungs for adults, but this little kid is going to die soon without them" and proceed with the operation instead of going through months of trial.

[Goldgato]

Little Red Otter

deadguy

Little Red Otter

deadguy

zaptar13

...If it works then maybe they should change that rule.

It can work, but there's a better chance when the lung is given to an adult instead.

Then it needs to be a guideline. Not a rule.

Why?

What do you mean "why"?

Look, regardless if adult lungs work better WITH adults, they can still save a life of a child. Instead of having to go through court to clear up a law temporarily, it should be a hospital guideline. The hospital can look at a child, see that she is dangerously close to death and say "Look. We know we try to save adult lungs for adults, but this little kid is going to die soon without them" and proceed with the operation instead of going through months of trial.

Which would be fine, if there weren't adults waiting for lung transplants who would be more likely to have their life extended longer. What you think this is an arbitrary rule and they have warehouses of adult lungs laying around they can hand out based on the emotional appeal of a dying child? How about we let the doctors make the rules about transplants, instead of idealistic forum-goers who apparently live in a world where vital organs grow on trees?

[Little Red Otter]

Goldgato

Little Red Otter

deadguy

Little Red Otter

deadguy

zaptar13

...If it works then maybe they should change that rule.

It can work, but there's a better chance when the lung is given to an adult instead.

Then it needs to be a guideline. Not a rule.

Why?

What do you mean "why"?

Look, regardless if adult lungs work better WITH adults, they can still save a life of a child. Instead of having to go through court to clear up a law temporarily, it should be a hospital guideline. The hospital can look at a child, see that she is dangerously close to death and say "Look. We know we try to save adult lungs for adults, but this little kid is going to die soon without them" and proceed with the operation instead of going through months of trial.

Which would be fine, if there weren't adults waiting for lung transplants who would be more likely to have their life extended longer. What you think this is an arbitrary rule and they have warehouses of adult lungs laying around they can hand out based on the emotional appeal of a dying child? How about we let the doctors make the rules about transplants, instead of idealistic forum-goers who apparently live in a world where vital organs grow on trees?

I feel as if not all adults deserve to keep living.
A lot of those adults have damaged their lungs with cigarettes and other such things while a child such as this was born with her condition.

Children are innocent and deserve to live into adulthood and beyond, relative to the person who has already reached adulthood and screwed up their own health based off of selfish decisions.

I am not an "idealistic forum-goer", I am a informed liberal who has looked deeply into cases such as these and disagree how they are handled.

[deadguy]

Little Red Otter

deadguy

Little Red Otter

deadguy

zaptar13

...If it works then maybe they should change that rule.

It can work, but there's a better chance when the lung is given to an adult instead.

Then it needs to be a guideline. Not a rule.

Why?

What do you mean "why"?

Look, regardless if adult lungs work better WITH adults, they can still save a life of a child. Instead of having to go through court to clear up a law temporarily, it should be a hospital guideline. The hospital can look at a child, see that she is dangerously close to death and say "Look. We know we try to save adult lungs for adults, but this little kid is going to die soon without them" and proceed with the operation instead of going through months of trial.

It's not that they work better with adults, it's that they have a better chance of working at all. We have a limited number of lungs to go around- far less than the number of people who need them. We can't waste them on kids with a larger than acceptable chance of failure just because they're cute. I'm glad it worked in this case, but understand that we saved her life at the cost of someone else, and when we did that, we took a chance that neither one would live that we wouldn't have had to if we had placed the lung in an adult like we were supposed to.

[Goldgato]

Little Red Otter

Goldgato

Little Red Otter

deadguy

Little Red Otter

Then it needs to be a guideline. Not a rule.

Why?

What do you mean "why"?

Look, regardless if adult lungs work better WITH adults, they can still save a life of a child. Instead of having to go through court to clear up a law temporarily, it should be a hospital guideline. The hospital can look at a child, see that she is dangerously close to death and say "Look. We know we try to save adult lungs for adults, but this little kid is going to die soon without them" and proceed with the operation instead of going through months of trial.

Which would be fine, if there weren't adults waiting for lung transplants who would be more likely to have their life extended longer. What you think this is an arbitrary rule and they have warehouses of adult lungs laying around they can hand out based on the emotional appeal of a dying child? How about we let the doctors make the rules about transplants, instead of idealistic forum-goers who apparently live in a world where vital organs grow on trees?

I feel as if not all adults deserve to keep living.
A lot of those adults have damaged their lungs with cigarettes and other such things while a child such as this was born with her condition.

Children are innocent and deserve to live into adulthood and beyond, relative to the person who has already reached adulthood and screwed up their own health based off of selfish decisions.

I am not an "idealistic forum-goer", I am a informed liberal who has looked deeply into cases such as these and disagree how they are handled.

You say you've looked deeply into these cases, yet you act like you don't realize that transplant rules that hospitals use prioritize individuals with healthy lifestyles who are the least likely to damage their new organs? Yeah, okay. I like how you think this transplant will allow this girl to "live into adulthood and beyond" even though it won't actually cure the condition that ruined her lungs in the first place and she'll likely need a new one every few years... Actually they had to modify the adult lungs for her so she'll need new lungs as she ages either way. Your claim that you're "informed" is undermined by the fact that you clearly don't have a clue what you're talking about.

[Entropic Marionetta]

zaptar13

...If it works then maybe they should change that rule.

I disagree.
Basically, these people killed someone who deserved that lung to save this ugly sack of flesh. = - = I'm displeased.

[zaptar13]

Umeko the Lamb

zaptar13

...If it works then maybe they should change that rule.

I disagree.
Basically, these people killed someone who deserved that lung to save this ugly sack of flesh. = - = I'm displeased.

Yes they tracked down a random person in the street and murdered them for their organ certainly a person with one lung left just willingly gave it up for somebody else. lol

[OtakuJeannie]

Umeko the Lamb

zaptar13

...If it works then maybe they should change that rule.

I disagree.
Basically, these people killed someone who deserved that lung to save this ugly sack of flesh. = - = I'm displeased.

Actually, it could be up to two, since they need both for a CF patient but for some conditions can be treated with only one lung. I wonder if the supporters would be as enthused if they were the next name on the waiting list and knew they were being bumped for a higher risk of failure but we're doing emotion over fact here paitent.