A Philadelphia girl’s fight for a lung donation blazed a trail for other children who need organ transplants. On Monday a donor board voted to give child patients more access to organ donations that could save their lives.
Sarah Murnaghan’s family battled the Department of Health and Human Services so that the 10-year-old could be considered for an adult lung donation in June 2013.
Her case is permanently changing the way kids qualify for transplants. The board voted to make the “Under 12” donor lung allocation policy permanent.
Sarah had been fighting for her life last spring as she struggled with cystic fibrosis. She had to undergo two double lung transplants.
A federal judge granted a temporary order that allowed her to join the adult list, instead of just the children’s. She was able to get adult lungs and is now breathing completely on her own.
“I’m not surprised,” says her father, Fran Murnaghan. “I mean often, in order to initiate change either through government or whatever may be. I mean you really have to push and standup, and just make people aware. That was the biggest thing, we wanted to make people aware of the issue. And from that point, it just really became a steam roll and we were able to make change.“