Toddler Has Calf Vein Transplanted

The girl was born without a major neck artery and the doctors were unable to install an artificial vein because they are too big.

Megan Mills from Dorset, Great Britain was born without a major artery, The Sun writes. The girl is only a year old and she has not had proper blood circulation in her lungs. Doctors were unable to install an artificial vein because they are too big, therefore they were forced to come up with a new way of helping her.

They transplanted a calf`s vein, which arrived from the USA. Her illness, called Truncus Arteriosus, was discovered just a few days after she was born, and seeing how the operation was a success, the girl has a normal life now.

Calf veins are highly flexible and little babies will accept them easily than those constructed from artificial fibres – doctor Marcus Haw told The Sun.

The parents said they were shocked when the doctor first told them they would transplant a calf`s vein to little Megan, but they point out that they were left without a choice.

- When I watch her running around it seems strange to think that she has part of a cow in her heart that is keeping her alive – the mother told The Sun.