PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- An 11-year-old girl at the center of an organ transplant policy debate left a Philadelphia hospital Tuesday, 11 weeks after getting a double lung transplant.
Sarah Murnaghan, who has had cystic fibrosis all her life, had been on the waiting list for pediatric lung transplant for 18 months when news reports of her situation touched off a debate on policy for such procedures -- eventually leading to at least a temporary change, CNN said Tuesday.
After a failed transplant June 12, doctors kept Sarah alive by circulating her blood outside of her body to keep her organs supplied with oxygen. She received a second transplant June 15
Family spokeswoman Tracy Simon said Sarah, for the first time in 2 1/2 years, can breathe without supplemental oxygen although she still uses a machine for help, ABC News reported. She is able to walk with help from a walker and is working on rebuilding muscles that grew weak through disuse.
Simon said Sarah's lung X-rays are the "best of her life," ABC reported.
Sarah's mother, Janet Murnaghan, used a petition at Change.org to advocate for change in policy that would have denied the lung transplant because of a rule requiring donated adult lungs to be given to certain adult recipients ahead of children less than 12.
A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order June 5 suspending enforcement of the order for Sarah. The Organ Transplantation and Procurement Network subsequently worked out a way to retain the rule while providing for exceptions on a case-by-case basis, ABC said.
