Recipient of 5 Organs Leaves Intensive Care

Tabatha Foster, the 3-year-old who received five new organs on Nov. 1, was moved out of intensive care Friday as doctors encouraged by her progress continued giving her the first solid food of her life.

“She’s a godsend child,” Dr. Thomas E. Starzl, her surgeon, said during a hospital news conference at which Tabatha made a surprise appearance.

Wearing a yellow dress and white socks and shoes, Tabatha walked into the room and held her father Roy’s hand.

Plays With Staff

“Are you going to say ‘Boo?’ ” asked Dr. Marc Rowe, the chief of surgery at Children’s Hospital. “Boo,” she replied.

“Tabatha, can you do peek-a-boo?” hospital spokeswoman Sue Cardillo asked. She responded by covering her eyes with one hand.

Tabatha, the only person to live so long with so many transplanted organs, was moved into a private room Friday. It was her first venture off of the intensive-care floor since her transplants, and it prompted doctors to upgrade her condition from critical but stable to serious.

She still is suffering from jaundice, a yellowing of the skin due to the liver she received along with a new pancreas, small intestine and parts of a stomach and colon, Starzl said. There are no signs of organ rejection, however, and her small intestine appears to be functioning well, he said.

Doctors said they have begun administering her anti-rejection medication through a tube connected to her small intestine rather than intravenously, which poses a risk of infection. They also have slowly added solid food to the liquid diet she receives intravenously as well as through her stomach tube.

Tabatha has been spoon-fed baby cereal, baby vegetables, baby fruits and yogurt since a few weeks ago.