Northern Colorado girl becomes 37th child in U.S. to have combined heart and liver transplant

An 11-year-old Fort Collins girl, Gracie Greenlaw, received a combined heart and liver transplant in 2025 at Children's Hospital Colorado and has returned home and is recovering; the surgery was reported as the 37th such pediatric procedure in U.S. history.

An 11-year-old girl from Fort Collins underwent a combined heart and liver transplant in 2025 at Children's Hospital Colorado and has since returned home. She was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and had multiple prior heart surgeries. Clinicians had anticipated she might later need both a heart and a liver transplant because of effects from earlier procedures. Hospital staff prepared for a possible combined transplant before Gracie became their patient. Key details: - Patient: Gracie Greenlaw, 11, of Fort Collins, Colorado. - Procedure: A combined heart and liver transplant performed in 2025 at Children's Hospital Colorado; the heart was transplanted first while the donor liver was maintained on a machine that perfused it in the operating room. - Team: More than 100 medical staff participated, and the hospital said this was its first combined heart-liver transplant. - National context: Gracie was reported as the 37th pediatric patient in U.S. history to receive a combined heart-liver transplant; that count later rose to 39 after two additional surgeries outside Colorado. - Donor and family: Both organs came from the same donor and needed to match blood type; the Greenlaw family and care team expressed gratitude to the donor's family. Summary: The transplant allowed Gracie to leave the hospital and resume activities such as roller skating, gym class and spending time with friends, and the care team described the operation as the result of long-term planning by many specialists. Undetermined at this time.