Parents of dying 10-year-old girl challenge organ donor rule blocking her from lung transplant

FoxNews.com
The parents of a 10-year-old girl dying of cystic fibrosis are fighting organ-donation rules that require adult lungs be offered first to adults, who are in less serious need than their daughter.

Sarah Murnaghan, who has only weeks to live, is eligible for adult donor lungs, but because of her age, she can only receive them after all adult candidates â€" regardless of the seriousness of their condition -- have the chance to receive them.

"We're starting to face the fact that, you know, she may not make it. And that we're sitting here with weeks," her mother, Janet Murnaghan, of Philadelphia, told Fox affiliate WTXF.

"I want to be famous and be on stage and sing and dance, and play my xylophone," the young girl told the station.

Pediatric lungs are rare, and the Murnaghan family thought their daughter would have a shot at a transplant when she made a list of adults. But they soon found a national organ rule standing in their way, according to the station.

The Murnaghans said they learned Sarah, who is being treated at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, has to be at least 12 to compete with adults on the list, even if there cases aren't as dire. Sarah is a top priority on the pediatric list, but officials say there are far fewer pediatric donors due to improved treatment.

______________________________________________________ 
"You have the power to SAVE lives." 
To register as a donor in California: 
www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org | www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org 
Outside California: 
www.organdonor.gov | www.donatelife.net

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