It was heralded as a medical marvel when the five-organ transplant was deemed a success on November 2^nd, 1992. Now, five years later, the success ends in tragedy.

A young 4-year old resident girl from the Sioux Indian reservation, Charlie Fourstar and her operation as a recipient of a liver, small intestine, stomach and pancreas gained national attention when it was performed here at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. On Tuesday, November 10th, Charlie Fourstar died of a heart failure at St. Vincent Hospital, located in Billings, Montana. Sources close to Fourstar say that a bout with pneumonia last spring had left her vulnerable to infection.

Charlie Fourstar was born with short gut syndrome, a condition that prevents adequate absorption of nutrients by the small intestine. She spent most of her first four years in a hospital setting on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, being fed intravenously. The long-term intravenous feeding led to liver failure.

After Montana's Medicaid program agreed to pay for the surgery, Charlie received a stomach, large and small intestine, liver and pancreas in a 16-hour operation that began on November 2^nd, 1992. Two weeks after the surgery, she was able to drink water for the first time and had to learn how to eat solid foods.

At the time of her surgery, doctors had given her less than a year to live.

Fourstar had been in and out of hospitals in the last five years, with pneumonia and other side effects of the operation or anti-rejection drugs. She was the first child to undergo a multi-organ transplant with the anti-rejection drug FK506. The drug suppressed her immune system so her body accepted the transplanted organs. Unfortunately, it also made her susceptible to illnesses like pneumonia. Charlie Fourstar was 9 years old.

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