Youngest Trachea Transplant, Hannah Warren, Dies Due to Health Complications
The world's youngest person to receive an artificial windpipe died from complications on Saturday, at the Children's Hospital of Illinois.
Hanna Warren, was just two years old and was born with a rare and most times fatal birth defect known as tracheal agenesis.
"Following her successful, pioneering trachea transplant surgery on April 9, 2013, and despite all efforts, Hannah was unable to overcome additional health issues that were identified as her care progressed," the Children's Hospital said in a statement according to ABC News. "Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to the Warren family."
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Doctors at the hospital implanted a nanofiber mesh coated windpipe made with Hannah's own bone marrow cells that was initially performing well but, her health went from "good, to weak, to poor," her family said in a statement.
"Our hearts are broken," Hannah's family said in a statement on their website GiveForward.com fundraising page. "She is a pioneer in stem-cell technology and her impact will reach all corners of our beautiful Earth … She's free now and with her Angel Wings she will perform many more miracles in Heaven."
Hannah was able to live three months with the trachea implant, and it was working fine the day she died, PJStar reports.
The child was born in South Korea without a windpipe and was unable to eat or drink on her own, and had a tube inserted in her esophagus to help her breathe.
"Lately it's just been kind of fun, kind of watching her to learn how to live without a tube hanging out of her mouth. So now her lips are together she's learning about her environment with two new senses, before she never tasted and she never smelled," Dr. Mark Holterman, a professor of surgery at the hospital said according to CBS News.
