Boy With Lung Disease Has Double Transplant

A 10-year-old boy suffering from cystic fibrosis underwent a double lung transplant Thursday at Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, with a family friend and his cousin acting as donors.

Kenneth Jordan Carper, who is known as Jordy, traveled to Southern California from Hedgesville, W.Va., with his mother for the operation, Steve Rutledge said.

Dr. Vaughn Starnes, head of cardiothoracic surgery at the hospital, pioneered the procedure in 1993. It involved removing the boys’ lungs, then transplanting a lower lobe from each donor. “These lungs went in very well today,” Starnes said after the four-hour surgery. “They’re functioning very well. We would anticipate [Jordy] will have a nice outcome.”

He said the fifth-grader is expected to remain in intensive care for two to three weeks.