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Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland
The Air Corps' government Learjet brought Meadhbh McGivern to London shortly after midnight.
# Transplant
At last: Meadhbh McGivern in London for long-awaited transplant
The government’s Learjet brought Meadhbh McGivern to London overnight; she is undergoing surgery there this morning.
THE LEITRIM TEENAGER who was forced to turn down the chance of a liver transplant two months ago is this morning undergoing a liver transplant in London.
Meadhbh McGivern, the 14-year-old who missed an opportunity for a transplant on 2 July when air transport could not be arranged to get her to London in time, is currently undergoing surgery at King’s College Hospital, London.
The McGiverns were informed at 10pm last night that a viable organ had become available, and were given a Garda escort from their home to Baldonnel, where the government Learjet brought her to Heathrow.
From there, she was taken by ambulance to the hospital where she arrived at around 2:30am. She has been in theatre since 7am.
Meadhbh’s father Joe told RTÉ Radio that it was “wonderful” for his daughter to finally get the transplant she had needed, saying they had been waiting a “long, long time” for the transplant.
The transplant would give Meadhbh “a quality of life she hasn’t had for years”, he told Pat Kenny – joking that the 14-year-old could be “a hard one to hold down when she gets this new liver”.
A HIQA report into the botched transport that frustrated the original offer of a donor organ in July found that there were four ‘critical decisions’ that had led to the cancellation of the transplant.
