(We retopped this post at 8:27 p.m. ET)
Sarah Murnaghan, the 10-year-old girl in need of a lung transplant, is out of surgery, her family said in a statement.
"We are thrilled to share that Sarah is out of surgery," the statement said. "Her doctors are very pleased with both her progress during the procedure and her prognosis for recovery."
The statement said the procedure lasted about six hours, and surgeons had no challenges resizing and transplanting the donor lungs.
Our original post:
Sarah Murnaghan, the 10-year-old girl in need of a lung transplant, is on her way to the operating room, her mother, Janet Ruddock Murnaghan, said in a post on her Facebook page.
"God is great! He moved the mountain! Sarah got THE CALL," Murnaghan wrote. She added:
"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. Please pray for Sarah and her surgical team and our whole family! We are overwhelmed with emotions!!!! Thank you to all of you for the unending support. Xoxoxo!! God bless! Today is the start of Sarah's new beginning and new life!"
As we reported, Sarah's family asked a federal judge to relax the rules regarding the waiting list for an adult lung transplant. Normally, preference is given to patients who are 12 and older.
As weekends on All Thing Considered explained, the reason for having the age cutoff is that putting adult lungs in a child is subject to some complications. They explained:
"The current system puts children at the bottom of the list for adult lungs. While they are eligible for child donor lungs, those are harder to come by. Wednesday, Judge Michael Baylson ruled that Sarah could be moved up on the adult list, and considered for a new set of adults lungs based on her need, not her age."
Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who advocated for the rule change, asked for prayers.
"The judge gave Sarah a chance to receive a new lung," he said in a statement. "Now the surgical team at [Children's Hospital of Philadelphia] is giving her a chance at life."
We'll keep an ear out for any news on how she emerges from surgery. We'll update this post with the latest.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
