Parents Donate Lungs to Save Dying Son

A twelve-year-old boy in Germany recently received a life saving gift from some people very close to him - his parents! The boy suffers from cystic fibrosis, an incurable genetic condition where the body produces thick mucus. This mucus gradually fills the lungs, reducing and eventually stopping the ability to breathe.

The boy, Marius, was on an organ donor waiting list for quite a while, but his condition became worse in April and doctors determined that the transplant from his parents was the only thing they could do to help him. Marius was extremely lucky in the fact that both of his parents were an exact match for the transplant!

Doctors the triple operation in three separate operating rooms at Hannover Medical University. The transplant was successful and both parents were released after ten days. Marius was in the hospital for 155 days, but his condition as improved to the point that he can play soccer and even ride his bike.

His on a series of medication to try to prevent his cystic fibrosis from affecting his new lungs. Check out the full story from The Local from Germany.

The question I have for you is - would you do the same thing? It's one thing to take a lung from one parent, but both at the same time?  I mean, these types of procedures are almost routine now, but there is always a chance for complications during surgery. There is a very real chance that something could have happened to one or both of Marius' parents - leaving him and his sister without either parent.

I know some families, for example, that won't fly on the same airplane. This way, if one plane goes down, the whole family is not in danger. It's unlikely that anything would happen to either plane, but some people are just that worried that it "might" happen.