Abigail Taylor to get triple organ transplant - pool suction victim

A six-year-old Minnesota girl who had part of her intestinal tract torn out by the suction of a wading pool at the Minneapolis Golf Club is recovering after a transplant operation.

Abigail Taylor of Edina is recovering at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha after an operation Monday to transplant a small bowel, liver and pancreas on Monday. She's listed in serious condition.

Abigail Taylor (picture above) is a 6-year-old girl from Edina, Minnesota. On June 29, Abigail Taylor suffered serious injuries when she sat over an open drain hole in a wading pool at the Minneapolis Golf Club in St. Louis park and the drain's powerful suction pulled out part of her intestinal tract.

Since then, the poor little girl was hospitalised and was expected to need a feeding tube for the rest of her life.

After she developed liver disease, Abigail Taylor was performed a transplant of a small bowel, liver and pancreas at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha on Monday December 17. She's in serious but stable condition.

It will be several months before judging if the operation is successful or not. Doctors now are cautious but optimistic about her recovery.

Alan Langnas, Chief of Transplantation says, "Any patient who undergoes a combined multi-organ transplant has a number of hurdles. They have to recover from a very large surgical procedure. They have to withstand the side effects of anti-rejection medications; they have to deal with the possibility of rejection or other opportunistic problems that can occur after transplantation. So it tends to be a rather bumpy road for the first three to six months after transplantation."

Abigail Taylor will be on our thoughts and sincere prayers!

A spokesperson for the Taylor family says transplants could mean Abigail will not need a feeding tube for the rest of her life. It's not known yet whether the operation was a success.
The operation came one day before Congress approved legislation aimed at strengthening pool safety and six months after Abigail was injured.
The legislation would ban the manufacture, sale or distribution of drain covers that don't meet anti-entrapment safety standards. The House approved it as part of an energy bill, following Senate passage last week. President Bush plans to sign it.