The Cuban girl, who three years ago was on the verge of death,
underwent eight hours of surgery Wednesday that also restored her
bladder. Doctors cautioned she had a long, difficult recovery
ahead.
"I think that with the help of God, everything will turn out
well,'' said the girl's mother, Margarita Caride.
Greta was in critical condition at Jackson Children's Hospital
following the unusual combination operation. Her father, Alberto
Blanco, was in stable condition.
He won a long fight with U.S. immigration officials for a
humanitarian visa to enter the country for the operation, and then
had to wait a month and a half for Cuban government permission to
leave.
Diagnosed with kidney disease soon after birth, Greta was
blind,
almost deaf and unable to move her limbs by the time she was rushed
from Cuba to Miami in 1994. Doctors who first saw her frail
26-pound frame thought she wouldn't last a week.
Since then, she has rebounded, nearly doubling her weight and
walking with assistance.
While related health problems have left her with brittle bones
and little ability to fight infection, she has been kept alive by a
dialysis machine that purifies her blood 11 hours a day.
Wednesday's operations were intended to allow her to live without
dialysis.
"Technically everything went as well as we could have
expected,'' said Dr. Joshua Miller, the University of Miami
urologist who led the transplant surgery.
Greta's severe health problems prompted doctors to ask whether
the surgery should even be done. Miller said the family decided
they had to take the chance.
© 1997 Associated
Press. All rights reserved.