Girl arrives home after lung transplants

Sarah Murnaghan, the 11- yearold Pennsylvania girl whose bid to get a transplant from adult lungs drew national attention, is back home with her family after six months in the hospital.

Sarah, who has cystic fibrosis, was discharged Tuesday from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and later she waved from the front door of her family’s Newtown Square home.

Parents Janet and Fran Murnaghan said Tuesday their efforts to get lungs for their daughter is proof that parents should always agitate and advocate for their children, no matter the obstacles.

Sarah wants to be with her family, her mother, Janet, said. She needs to build muscle. “She walks with a walker and assistance.”

Sarah’s story tugged at the nation’s heartstrings after her parents and the family of an 11- year- old boy, also awaiting a lung transplant, challenged transplant rules that limit the access to most adult lungs for children younger than 12. Typically, children are considered only for child- sized lungs.

In June, a federal judge ordered the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network to add Sarah and the other boy to the list for adult lungs.

Sarah received her first set of lungs on June 12. After the first set of lungs failed, she received new lungs three days later.

The one- year survival rate after a lung transplant is 80% to 90% depending on the center and the complexity of the patients being operated on, according to Ashish Shah, the surgical director of lung transplants at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He was not involved in Sarah’s case. About half of patients live to about five years after surgery, and a third make it for 10 years, he says.

The fact that she survived the second transplant is incredible because statistically speaking, her risk of dying in that scenario was pretty high, he says. “It’s a real testament to her treatment team and what a great job they did.”

Still, Sarah has a long recovery ahead of her, Shah says. “It can take up to six months for the lungs to recover totally. It’s definitely possible that she’ll be running around playing soccer, but it may be a year from now.”

Sarah’s story spotlighted the need for more organ donations. More than 115,000 people await organ transplants in the USA.

MATT ROURKE, AP Finally home, Sarah Murnaghan, 11, waves from the front of her home in Newtown Square, Pa. She was hospitalized for six months.