HOLLIS, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- A nine-year-old girl from Hollis is settling back into life at home after undergoing a groundbreaking six organ transplant a couple of months ago.
Alannah Shevenell received new organs from her esophagus to her small intestine after a rare tumor strangled her organs.
Shevenell loves sledding with her grandmother. When you watch her march up the hill for the next ride, it's unimaginable that just four months ago, she underwent a transplant operation. She received a new esophagus, liver, stomach, spleen, pancreas and small intestine after losing her own organs to a rare fast growing tumor.
"It was wrapped around the portal vein, where it goes up through abdomen right up against the aorta, that is the major blood supply to all her abdominal organs," said her grandmother, Debi Skolas.
The 14 1/2 hour operation at children's hospital in Boston was the first known esophageal transplant in the world and the largest number of organs transplanted into a person at one time in New England.
The multi-organ operation was Alannah's last hope. But she had to wait 15 months the organs which came from one donor. After the procedure Alannah suffered from seizures and an infection as her body got used to the organs. getting out of bed took five people because of all the tubes and wires.
Alannah's health improved signifigantly a couple of weeks ago, and she was allowed to go home earlier than expected. She is limited from going out in public because of concerns about her immune system and will have to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of her life.
NEWS CENTER