Sarah Murnaghan remains on breathing tube after two lung transplants

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: Janet Murnaghan said Friday that her daughter Sarah received two lung transplants after she was added to the adult donor list. The original transplant took place on June 12 and the second just three days later on June 15. A press conference is being held at 4 p.m. with the family.

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Sarah Murnaghan, the Delaware County girl who received a lung transplant after her case stirred national debate on organ-donation procedures, remains on a breathing tube after physicians tried to extubate her.

The 10-year-old's body "could not handle the reduced support," her mother, Janet Murnaghan, said in a statement.

"It was impossibly painful watching her struggle to breath and panic," the statement says. "She was sedated and re-intubated."

Sarah was awakened from a medically induced coma over the weekend and her family said she had been responsive.

The Newtown Square girl was dying of cystic fibrosis at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and was waiting for a lung transplant. But Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network policies barred children under age 12 from receiving adult lungs.

A judge intervened, allowing Sarah to receive lungs from an adult donor. She underwent a lung transplant June 12.

Janet Murnaghan called the Wednesday attempt to take Sarah off the breathing tube an "excruciating day." Murnaghan said doctors told the family Sarah's long-term prognosis hasn't changed and the girl "needs more time to regain her strength."