PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A 10-year-old girl whose efforts to qualify for an organ donation spurred public debate over how organs are allocated underwent a successful double-lung transplant on Wednesday, the girl's family said.
Sarah Murnaghan, who suffers from severe cystic fibrosis, received new lungs from an adult donor at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, spokeswoman Tracy Simon said.
The Murnaghan family said it was "thrilled" to share the news that Sarah was out of surgery.
"Her doctors are very pleased with both her progress during the procedure and her prognosis for recovery," the family said in a statement.
During double-lung transplants, surgeons must open up the patient's chest. Complications can include rejection of the new lungs and infection.
Sarah went into surgery around 11 a.m. Wednesday, and the procedure lasted about six hours, her family said.
"The surgeons had no challenges resizing and transplanting the donor lungs - the surgery went smoothly, and Sarah did extremely well," it said. "She is in the process of getting settled in the ICU and now her recovery begins. We expect it will be a long road, but we're not going for easy, we're going for possible."