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A seven year old girl from Long Island was released from a New York hospital a little more than four weeks after receiving an historic surgery that involved removing and re-implanting multiple organs.
Seven year old Heather McNamara had a tennis ball sized tumor in her abdomen tangled around vital organs and blood vessels.
Heather and her family met doctor Dr. Tomoaki Kato and his medical team at New York Presbyterian Hospital and learned of an extraordinary option.
Doctors performed the first surgery of its kind on a child.
"We were very confident that we could do the surgery successfully," said lead surgeon Dr. Tomoaki Kato.
The 23-hour procedure involved removing six organs so they could remove the tumor.
"The most trickiest, difficult part of the operation is once the organs come out of the body we really need to be able to put the organs back in," said Kato.
In the dangerous operation, she became both the donor and recipient of her own organs.
More than a month after the surgery, Heather is now well enough to go home.
A successful surgery, gives a little girl a chance at life.
Heather still has challenges.
Her stomach, pancreas and spleen could not be saved because the cancer had spread so widely.
Doctors are optimistic about her ability to overcome those problems.
