Baby takes first breath on his own after rare double lung transplant

A six-month-old girl born with a life-threatening lung disease can now breathe on her own thanks to a rare double lung condition. Transplantation.

Shortly after she was born on Nov. 10, 2023, Kylie Overfield was placed on a ventilator due to Surfactant B deficiency, a rare genetic disorder that causes abnormalities in the lining of lung tissue, making it difficult to breathe. according to National Library of Medicine.

The disease affects one in every million newborns worldwide and can cause respiratory failure. Kylie was so ill that doctors feared she might not survive when she was born on Friday, her mother, Ashley Overfield, said.

“They didn't think Kyrie would make it,” Overfield said.Good morning, America“She won't survive the weekend.”

Against the odds, Kylie survived for another three months and recovered enough to be transferred from the hospital in Virginia where she was born to Texas Children's Hospital in Houston in January.

“She had a lot of energy, seriously,” Oberfield said of her daughter. “If she was fighting, I would never stop fighting.”

Overfield said doctors told her the best treatment for Kylie would be a double lung transplant, but it's rare: Only 35 lung transplants have been performed on babies under 1 in the United States in the past decade. Data From the Organ Donation and Transplant Network.

Doctors at Texas Children's Hospital have performed more than 100 pediatric lung transplants since 2014 — the most in the country, according to the hospital — and were ready to take on Kylie's case.

“Specifically when it comes to lung transplants, we are one of the busiest pediatric lung transplant centers in the country,” Dr. David Moreno-McNeil, a pediatric pulmonologist at Texas Children's Hospital, told GMA.

After arriving at Texas Children's Hospital in January, Kylie was placed on the waiting list for a double lung transplant on February 16th.

Just two months later, doctors found a genetic match for Kylie.

On April 17, then-five-month-old Kylie underwent surgery to receive two lungs, an 11-hour operation overseen by more than 10 doctors and nurses.

The hole in her heart was repaired and the surgery was successful, allowing Kylie to breathe on her own for the first time in her life.

She is expected to be released from Texas Children's Hospital within the next few days.

“She has a life now because she has a baby,” said Oberfield, who moved to Houston with her husband and two children. “She has an opportunity.”

Oberfield said she and her family are especially grateful to the donor baby's mother, who made the selfless choice to donate her organs.

“I'm so grateful that she chose to donate her organs. She saved my baby and I'm sure other babies too,” Overfield said. “My heart aches for her. I think about her every minute of every day.”

Currently, there are more than 103,000 people on the transplant waiting list in the United States. according to U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.