Girl, 14, receives single-lung transplant

Cambridge teenager Kayla Baker got a new lung on Wednesday after a two-year wait and is doing as well as can be expected following surgery, doctors say.

She “finally has a hero,” Baker’s mother Susan Tremblett told CityNews reporter Avery Haines from Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, adding that her daughter is grateful to the donor and is “doing well.”

She was on the list for a double lung transplant, but her mother said Wednesday Baker’s right lung was too damaged for that operation.

However, she was eligible for a left lung transplant, and entered into surgery around 1:30 a.m. The 9.5 hour surgery wrapped up around 11 a.m.

Doctors said she is in critical condition, but that is to be expected.

Baker, 14, was first interviewed by Haines for The Inside Story last June. Against all odds, she had just graduated from Grade 8.

Baker underwent chemotherapy and surgery to remove a cancerous tumour as a toddler and was later diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis. Her lungs were working at just 19 per cent and appeared to be weakening.

The surgery is nearly two years to the date after Baker first went on the transplant wait list.

Vampire Diaries actor Nina Dobrev visited Baker in hospital and tweeted two photos to her 3.5 million Twitter followers.

“I’d like to ask everyone who reads this to send out positive energy to @Kayla_0507 tonight,”she wrote.

“Just take one moment of your time to think of her and put it out there in the universe. Think happy thoughts and smile. The secret.. We can make anything happen.”

Click here to see the photos.

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