A Korean toddler who received a pioneering trachea transplant in Peoria has died. A spokesperson with the Children’s Hospital of Illinois at OSF Saint Francis says 2-year old Hannah Warren passed away on Saturday.
Warren received an artificial windpipe seeded with her own stem cells in April. She was born without a trachea, and unable to breathe, eat, drink or swallow on her own since she was born in 2010. She was the youngest patient in the world to benefit from the experimental treatment.
Warren’s family, in a statement, says her new trachea performed well, but her lungs went from fairly good to poor. A statement from the Children’s Hospital says Warren helped advance the practice of regenerative medicine which is still at the beginning stages. They say her surgery could help serve other children and adults in the future.