Maliyah Herrin was discharged from Primary Children's Medical Center on Saturday, less than three weeks after receiving a kidney transplant.
"She went home today in good condition," hospital spokeswoman Bonnie Midget said Saturday.
The kidney transplant, using an organ donated by her mother, Erin Herrin, was expected to be the last major surgery the little girl, 5, will need in her childhood, doctors said earlier this month.
Maliyah, daughter of Erin and Jake Herrin, of North Salt Lake, was born conjoined to twin Kendra at the abdomen. Because the girls shared Kendra's kidney, they were not separated until Maliyah was old enough to do well on dialysis and undergo a kidney transplant. The separation surgery, which took two large medical teams and 26 hours, was performed last August. In the interim, until the transplant, Maliyah underwent dialysis three days a week.
The separation surgery was very complex because the twins shared a number of organs. Each also has a single leg. Jake Herrin noted after the transplant surgery that his family has been blessed with repeated miracles and very few complications, all of them manageable. He said the family was anxious to have the transplant behind them so they could all enjoy fun summer activities like swimming, which Maliyah could not do while she relied on dialysis.
Besides healing from the transplant, doctors had to fine-tune the dose of immunosuppressant medicine Maliyah will always need to avoid organ rejection, Midget said.
Erin Herrin was released from the hospital April 8.
The Herrins are also the parents of Courtney, 7, and twin boys Justin and Austin, not quite 2.
E-mail: lois@desnews.com