With all that tune-up, hope she got a manicure and hair cut thrown in for free.......

Jeez, I'll bet that voided the warranty.

Wow...Chris and Jersey Bob - with all the compassion you guys have it's a wonder you even clicked on this story in the first place. Your mothers must be so proud.

Hey, K. Snider, you may want to update your profile with a picture that wasn't taken in like 1993. That's known as false advertising.

If Ms. Snider looked that good in 1993 then I bet she looks even better today. Fine wine and all that.

Look up compassion or place a 'sarc' to let others know when you are trying to be funny.

Congratulations to all involved. Team effort all around and a great feel good story. Live a long and happy life dear girl. All is well that ends well.

@ Peter: Wasn't trying to be funny or sarcastic. Just shocked that anyone would click on a beautiful story and make such stupid comments.

@ Chris: Uh, last I saw this isn't a dating site so unless you are really that hard up, I don't think you should care what picture anyone has up on their profile. Have you ever considered wearing a helmet? (sarc)

@ Peter: ty for the compliment - didn't mean to overlook that.

Ms. Snider, I was referring to JB and Chris' comments which I found to be distasteful considering the difficulties this child bravely and without choice had to confront in her young life. I was glad to see you call them out on their childlike behavior not to mention the manner in which they replied to you. Lack of compassion is one of the major problems facing humanity today.

@ Peter, I realized that after I re-read your post, but it was too late to edit my post by then :(. I was so shocked by the negative comment by Chris that I was prepared for both comments to be like that. Sorry about that. :)

Here's a picture for Chris - since he's so concerned about having an absolute up to date picture. This one is me and my daughter - she's on the right and I'm on the left. This was taken in December of 2011. I hope he feels less "scammed" now by a photo. <sarc>

Wow. You have a beautiful family. I count my blessings every day for the healthy and beautiful children God gave me.

Thank you Peter. I love my family more than life itself. I have five children total - the one in the picture is my oldest who has blessed me with three beautiful grandchildren. I can't imagine my life without any one of them. If they had to go through what this little girl in the story had to go through and someone like Chris and Jersey made those kinds of comments I think my heart would be crushed. Every child, no matter how dire their situation, deserves a chance to live.

That's a lovely idea!

i would buy that to for all the reason's

As would I.

Excellent idea!

Agreed, I would love to buy several.

It's called Primitives in Pine.

Thank you.

Wow. No where in the article says that she will be on a feeding tube forever nor does it say that she can never go to school or college. She just got home from her recovery in a hospital and her at home recovery will probably be longer but many people who receive organ transplants go on to live a normal life so why not her?

"An amazing story yes, but I can't help to think if the multiple organs used to save this ONE girl couldn't have been used to save SIX other little girls. What gives one person the "right" to live over another? Nothing, but what gives one person the right to live over 6 others? You tell me."

So because she needed more help, she doesn't deserve a chance to live? Yes it is extremely sad at how many people need transplants in this world but if she had received no organs or even one, she would have died. She now has a chance at life.

And as for the taxpayers picking up the tab. I hope that you never come into hard time and then get ill and are forced to rely on others to cover your health costs so you don't die. People complain all the time about paying for other people but no one stops to think about what happens if something happens to them and they find themselves in a bad situation.

I hope this child continues to have a successful recovery and thank you for the brave family who donated the other childs organs. I hope it brings them peace and happiness when they know that their child helped save another life.

To RADO2345: "I don't mean to be pessimistic" ???? Geez, sounds like you are an a-hole more than anything else. Crawl back in your cave and keep your pie-hole shut.

God bless the donor family, the child and the grandparents.

@Rado: I understand where you are coming from. It makes sense when you remove all emotion from the situation...but emotions are what makes us human.

Maybe it was rare that there was a child who passed away who's organs were a match for this little girl. Every type of surgery has to start somewhere. There has to be a guinea pig and she was it. Right place at the right time and she got lucky. No doubt if she were your child you would be over the moon that such a miracle came your way. I'm sure more than six lives will be saved in the long run when medical science is able to use what they learn from this ground-breaking surgery in the future.

Let's not question the miracle. Let's just let her and her grandparents enjoy their lives and not make them feel guilty for such an amazing blessing.

The transplant people don't use emotions. The only way this girl would have gotten all of those organs is if she was a match. Intestines, stomach, etc. don't usually get transplanted. I think this is a wonderful story. If this had happened ten years ago, it would not have been possible. Modern Medicine is really wonderful.

I hope she has a more normal future. Poor girl, she's been through a lot.

As a grandparent who cared for a grandchild who also had cancer, I am so happy to read what these grandparents did for their granddaughter. Our grandson was not so lucky to survive the cancer.

For those who have never walked in these shoes and know nothing about the costs of treatment- I hope you never have to experience it. It is a terrible thing to watch someone you love going through so much at such a young age and being helpless to do anything to help them. Our grandson died at 6 years old. He also had state aid to keep him alive as his parents were also out of the picture. Even with state aid we had all we could do to keep our heads above water as state aid does not pay for the lost wages it took for us to be at hospital stays, dr appointments and costs to stay at hotels/motels, eating out, and gas to get to and from the appointments and hospital stays.

I so understand the sacrifice these grandparents have made and pray they get a much longer time to spend with their granddaughter. I know I would do it again in a heartbeat, given the chance.

God Bless the family who gave their child's life so another child can have a chance at life. Also the grandparents for all they have given to help a child, may they all be blessed for their actions.

@ ole-3328781: My heart goes out to you. I'm so sorry your grandson was unable to win his battle against cancer. <3 hugs <3

@ ole - so sorry to hear about your loss! Your grandson was blessed to have grandparents so devoted to him....God bless you and your family!

Rado2345 I get what you're saying, but we need to understand there are many ways to get an education including college and participate in this world beyond the stereo types we so dearly cling to. With the internet she can "attend" school and even have a lot of social outlets on-line.

Who says she can't be a successful member of society? Look at Steven Hawking, wheelchair bound, yet a genius who has contributed much to this world. What about J.K Rowling, billionaire author of Harry Potter books? She may be the next J. K Rowling and writing can be done at home.

Her grandparents are obviously "creative" so she has that going for her too.

If she has this much stamina to go through such a grueling medical procedure, she probably has the will to do great things in this world!

she will attend school next year and she is not going to be limited in activities..have been out sledding the past 2 days.     alannah's grandmother

alannah will not be on a feeding tube for long,she will attend school next year and she was the only child of this size and tissue type on the new england unos list....get your information right!i'm alannah's grandmother ...she is going to do great

@debiskolas I admire your strength and stedfast love in doing all you have for your precious granddaughter. She is beautiful and I'm so glad to hear she is playing like a regular 9 year old girl, and is now looking forward to a normal, long life! You and your husband are really terrific people!!

@ debiskolas: I hope you are ignoring the few insensitive comments being made on this site. You are doing an amazing and wonderful thing with your Alannah and she is a very lucky girl to have you in her life. <3 hugs <3

If I may, while I do understand the wonder and magic that all the stars aligned for Alannah, I also understand the point made by Rado. As a nation we have to start deciding where our health care dollars are best spent. Yes, it is awful to have a baby sentenced to death because we don't have the organs or because we don't have the money. An argument can be made that the monies absorbed by this case might have been better spent transplanting the organs into 6 different people. The argument can be made that transplants, excepting kidneys, are not shown to be successful enough to justify the cost. These are discussions we are going to have to have as we transition to socialized medicine.

That aside, I wish nothing but the very best for Allanah and her family.

Hold on just a minute! First of all, we know none of the facts regarding this multiple organ transplant. Second of all, the organs that were used are not the type that are in high demand (i.e. lungs, heart, liver, kidneys, etc.) Third of all, how can anyone judge or weigh the importance of saving even one single life. Fourth, she may have been a perfect donor match when no one else on the list was. Please don't jump to conclusions without having the facts! What if it was you, your child or another loved one. Would you refuse to get six organs in order to save 6 different people? Judging others harshly is a symptom of what is wrong with you. For the young patient and family, please realize that the majority of people are warmed by your story and only wish you the best. The neigh sayers should be left out of the equation.

This is exactly the emotional response that is no longer possible. America had a long history of valuing the individual over all else. Now we have committed to a plan that has to weigh these very emotionally charged issues. The cost does NOT justify the benefit.

First, livers and hearts are very high demand. Kidneys as well, though less so. Esophagus and lungs even less so- though kids with CF would tend to disagree as far as lungs go. The cost to society includes care from discovery of the problem until she dies- probably already at well over 2 million dollars- which can be "better" ( poor adjective, but it is the one I chose) spent vaccinating, or in smoking cessation!

This extends now to all of the programs that have developed. The money spent in medicare might be better spent on children. Medicaid might be more solvent if we stopped covering self induced illness. Obesity would be an example.

Again. Please understand we have to have these discussions, no one wants to be the bad guy, but there is a limit to what we can pay for even if we taxed every over 200k 100% we cannot cover all these issues.

Being the the Esophagus and lungs are less often transplanted it could very well be that they were experimenting with it on a little girl who had zero chance to survive if they didn't. And it would have been pointless to do if they didn't do the heart, liver and kidney - so they had to do them as well - and they got very lucky to find a donor match for her.

I think it was medical science to the doctors and is among the first steps that help others with those rare needs in the future. . . and an awesome miracle to Allannah and her grand parents.

It's a beautiful story for the rest of us in a world where death, hate and selfish acts seem surround us all.

LOL at Liz-561790!!! You sound a bit confused. Perhaps you should take YOUR meds before making such stupid comments. Just saying.

Great story. God Bless her.

To help Alannah is one thing. To help her grandparents with a difficult but manageable financial situation, just because Alannah's medical situation is unique and made the news, is quite a different matter. There are thousands of American families struggling more, with or without medical problems, who do not have the benefit of their own home, a farm, a business, retirement and savings. And plenty of them have dependants who do not qualify for state aid, because of their age or income.

This couple would probably not qualify for state aid either if they were the child's legal guardians, and instead would have to rely on whatever insurance coverage they had for her. "Lucky" for them, in that respect, that their own child is an irresponsible parent. There are several reasons for absenteeism, but since the grandparents are too embarrassed to speak of it, that pretty much leaves prison, drug abuse or rehab, or plain old child abandonment.

I wish the best for Alannah, but let's not turn her into a cash cow.

@ JLM-268998: We can only help the one's we know about...and if by buying the goods that are sold in their store helps them out it's a win/win for everyone involved. A lot of people who are willing to work hard don't qualify for state aid and they end up needing - and deserving - more help than those who would rather whine about their situation and wait for a hand out.

While I completely understand where you are coming from, please ... let's not discourage people from helping this family if that's what they choose to do.

Just want to say you ROCK Grandma & granddad, my wife & I are also caring for our great grand daughter. Yes I said great grand daughter, She had a 5 organ transplant on 2/11/2009. Just 10 days past her second birth day, and Yes she is doing great. and a day dose not pass that. I don't think of and and say thanks to the donor family!!!!. I would jump at the chance to meet the donor family. Alannah keep your head Some body has to keep grandma & grandpa in line:) would like to know if you have a web page best of luck to you all papa mike, grandma and jovie.

God bless you papa mike and grandma raising sick grandchildren is not easy but very rewarding..she keeps us young and on our toes.debiskolas@gmail.com

I am intrigued that Allanah will be down to 2 drugs in 2 years. My sister received a kidney pancreas transplant and was still on many more than 2 drugs for immunosuppression. I wish you all the best, but please take it as it comes, and don't get discouraged if all the milestones aren't reached.

I remember President Reagan. He'd give you the shirt off of his back, and then go sign a bill that would put Granny on the street. In fact, it was under his presidency that a person could not get Hospice funding if that person was still getting medical treatment that could possibly in the least bit save his or her life, or even prolong it. You had to chose treatment or dying. Now THAT is a death panel.