9-year-old receives 6 organ donations at one time

Todays THV CBS 11 | Lindsey Tugman

BOSTON, MA (CNN) - It's a story of survival with a happy ending. A little girl from Maine received not one or two, but six life-saving organ transplants and is now on the road to recovery.

On the top floor of Boston's Children's Hospital, a spirited 9-year-old girl from Maine is packing up her things to come home.

When Alannah was five, she was diagnosed with a rare and massive tumor that doesn't respond to chemotherapy. The tumor wrapped itself around Alannah's esophagus, stomach, liver, pancreas, spleen, and small intestines. And it was only a matter of time before the tumor would cut off the blood supply to those organs. She needed a six organ transplant. Dr. Heung Be Kim says, "This is a very difficult operation. It's about as difficult as you can get. And the hard part of it is the actual removal of the tumor and the organs."

After being on the transplant waiting list for 15 months, one family's loss became Alannah's miracle. Three months ago, doctors took Alannah in for her transplant surgery. Her grandmother Deb Skolas says, "I was calm. I knew he was going to be able to do it. I just knew Dr. Kim could do it."

During the 14 and a half hour surgery, doctors removed the cancerous tumor and six organs that the tumor had wrapped itself around. Doctors then transplanted in six new organs and gave Alannah her life back.
Read more: http://www.todaysthv.com/news/article/193761/288/9-year-old-receives-6-organ-donations-at-one-time