The Nation - News from Nov. 5, 1987

Three-year-old Tabatha Foster began to breathe on her own without a respirator and passed a critical 72-hour mark following her landmark five-organ transplant in Pittsburgh, Pa. But doctors warned that the Madisonville, Ky., toddler was not yet “out of the woods.” Tabatha’s condition was upgraded from critical to critical but stable, Children’s Hospital spokeswoman Lynn McMahon said. Surgeons replaced Tabatha’s liver, small intestine and pancreas and parts of her stomach and colon in a nearly 15-hour operation. Tabatha was born with a twisted small intestine, a fatal condition called short gut syndrome that causes blood flow problems.