GIrl in Center of Lung Transplant Controversy Heading into Surgery

Had been denied adult lungs under current guidelines because she's too young

Sarah Murnaghan, the 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl dying of cystic fibrosis, is receiving her long-awaited lung transplant.

According to a Facebook post from Sarah's mother, Janet, the family received word this morning of new lungs that had been made available, and Sarah will be taken to the operating room within the next 30 minutes.  The operation will take many hours.

Sarah has been in desperate need of a lung transplant for the past 18 months.  However, under the current guidelines for organ donation, children under the age of 12 must wait for pediatric lungs to become available.  Adult lungs cannot be offered to children under 12, until they are offered to adults and adolescents first.

The Murnaghans retained a lawyer last week and filed a lawsuit to have the guidelines changed, arguing the rule keeping Sarah off the list is "discriminatory."

(Hat tip to Andrew Staroska)