Sarah Murnaghan, an 11-year-old girl from Pennsylvania, received two double lung transplants after her parents successfully challenged an organ transplant rule that kept her from qualifying for adult lungs, reports ABC News.  Her controversial case garnered a major media following.  Now, after staying at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for six months, Sarah finally gets to go home to Newtown Square.

According to an earlier National Monitor article, Sarah underwent her first double lung transplant with adult lungs on June 12.  Following that transplant, Sarah suffered from severe complications, which created the need for a second transplant.  Three days later, she received a second double lung transplant.  Between 2010 and 2012, there were only 42 lung transplant patients that received a second lung transplant within six months, which amounts to one percent of transplant patients.

After suing for a change, the Huffington Post reports that U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson granted Sarah’s request to be put on the adult transplant list.  Also added to the list was 11-year-old Javier Acosta.  Like Sarah, Javier suffers from cystic fibrosis, though his case is described as less severe.  At the time of the suit, Sarah had been hospitalized for three months and had been in a coma, with possibly only one week to live.

Further hearings on the case had been canceled, but may be revisited.  For now, Baylson dealt with the urgency of Sarah’s case.  The Organ Transplantation and Procurement Network abided by the Judge’s decision, but since a ruling was not made on the transplant standards, they chose not to change the default rule.  However, a mechanism for exceptions has been created.  There are still approximately 30 children that need lungs.  The national transplant network will review their cases through a special appeals process and if appropriate, the child will be added to the adult transplant list.

According to the organization Donate Life America, there are currently 120,000 adults and children in the U.S. that need a transplant.  On average, 18 people die every day waiting for a transplant.  Approximately 144 people are added to the transplant waiting list every day.  In 2012, there were 28,052 organ transplants in the country, coming from 14,013 organ donors.  In addition, there were approximately one million tissue transplants and 46,000 cornea transplants.  While 90 percent of Americans are supportive of organ transplants, less than one-third know what they need to do in order to become an organ donor.