U.K. Woman with Four Transplanted Organs Gets Her M.D.

Aug. 4, 2010— -- The first woman in the United Kingdom to have all her major organs transplanted has now signed on to a lifetime of hospital visits -- but this time as the doctor.

Allison John, 32, made medical history in 2006 after she received her fourth organ transplant -- a kidney from her father, 61-year-old David John, to add to her previous heart, lung and liver transplants.

A life plagued by illness and frequent hospital visits has not deterred John from her dream of becoming a doctor, however. After 14 years of interrupted study, she finally received her medical degree from Cardiff University last month, according to the U.K. press.

John will begin rounds as a junior doctor at Neville Hall Hospital in Abergavenny, England.

Considering that her combined heart-lung transplant alone has only a 40 percent survival rate in the first five years, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, John is extremely fortunate to have survived three separate transplant operations.

"At the moment, I feel I'm in the best shape physically that I've ever been and I'm so excited about the future," John told the U.K. press.

Why would one person need so many organ transplants?

Just weeks after her birth, John was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, an incurable genetic condition that results in the formation of thick mucus that plugs up the tubes leading to the lungs and liver -- though other organs also can be affected by it.

"Cystic fibrosis can result in lung and liver damage, as the thick mucus causes inflammation and infection that destroys [organ] tissue," said Dr. David Cronin, associate professor of transplant surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

According to the U.K. press, John's liver was transplanted first, at age 15, but just a year later, doctors told her she would also need a lung transplant and she received a combined heart/lung transplant less than a year later.