Children’s Hospital Colorado makes history with life-saving dual transplant for 11-year-old

AURORA, Colo. (KRDO) – A rare double organ transplant, the first of its kind at Children’s Hospital Colorado, is giving a brave 11-year-old girl a second chance at life.

Children’s Hospital Colorado successfully performed the Rocky Mountain region's first pediatric heart and liver dual organ transplant this year for Gracie Greenlaw.

Gracie was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, meaning her heart had only one chamber pumping blood into her body. She required three surgeries before age 3 to keep her heart functioning. She was also living with plastic bronchitis, leading to liver failure, the hospital said.

In April, Gracie was placed on the waitlist for both a heart and a liver. Less than a month later, she received the gift of life through an organ donation.

Because donor organs only remain viable for a limited time, the transplant needed to be performed immediately.

"I'm excited because, after, I'll feel so much better," Gracie said before surgery. "I'll have a lot more energy so I can do a lot more things. I'm looking forward to doing a sport."

The surgery lasted 16 hours and required the expertise of dozens of specialists, but the operation was ultimately a success.

Fewer than 40 surgeries of this kind have ever been completed in the United States, according to Children's Hospital Colorado.

Now seven months post-transplant, Gracie is back in school and home with her dogs.

Dr. Megan Adams, surgical director of the Pediatric Liver Transplant and Kidney Transplant Programs at Children’s Hospital Colorado, called the surgery an amazing accomplishment.

“We’re grateful to provide this level of care to even more kids who need complex organ transplants to treat life-threatening illnesses and help them live healthy and happy lives,” Adams said.

Like all pediatric heart transplant patients, she will need another heart transplant in the future, but her new liver will last her a lifetime. 

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