lungs. but since she s only 10, she primarily has access to children s lungs which are in much shorter supply. that s insane. shouldn t be about their age. if she s the sickest person, she should qualify. reporter: under the rules, the only way sarah could receive an adult s lung to save her life is if all the other patients in her region who were age 12 and older turned it down first. it tugs at my heart. it is not a perfect system. there is no perfect system. it is the best we can do right now. reporter: dr. stewart suite is a board member at the united network for organ sharing. he helped write the pediatric transplant rules. if i change the system to give sarah an advantage, there is another patient very likely an adolescent who then gets a disadvantage. we built a system that we try to be as fair to everyone as possible. reporter: sarah now has three to five weeks to live. so hard to get pediatric lungs. reporter: her mother is still working on a solution.
at 10 years of age, a pennsylvania girl named sarah moynihan and she already knows what it takes to succeed. just listen. i m not going for easy. i m just going for possible. life has been far from easy for sarah. she has cystic fibrosis that has absolutely ravaged her lungs to the point where she lives in a pediatric icu in philadelphia. as she fights to breathe, sarah s parents are fighting as well to get their daughter a lung transplant that they say is unfairly out of reach because of their daughter s age. and time is running out. cnn s zain asher tells their story. twinkle, twinkle
little star reporter: 10-year-old sarah wants to be a singer. what you are reporter: her mother says if she gets a new pair of lungs in the next few weeks, her dream could one day be a reality. i m not going to tell her she s dying because she s 10. reporter: sarah was born with cystic fibrosis, an illness that has damaged her lungs beyond repair. i used to go to school before i got oxygen. i got to go to school and at least play and act like all the normal children. we knew at some point she would need new lungs. we had hoped it would be much, much further down the road. but over the years her disease has progressed. reporter: if sarah was 12 years old, she would have a higher chance of receiving adult
her options, though, are limited. maybe it is too late for sarah. i don t know. but it is not it is not right. i m going to fight for the next person s kid. reporter: sarah still has hope. i m not going for easy. i m just going for possible. reporter: the possibility of living, of maybe one day realizing her dreams. zain asher, cnn, philadelphia. what a story. sarah s father fran joins me live from philadelphia. fran, i hate that i m talking to you. i hate the circumstances, but i got to tell you, your 10-year-old is a pretty eloquent young gal. as a dad, your daughter is dying. but you and your wife have chosen not to tell her and that has to be incredibly difficult. yes, it is.
0 furthering her education and perhaps going to med school. that sit for me. cnn newsroom continues. have a great afternoon. right now, our own chad myers is chasing storms in america s heart land as this region is sitting as a possible bullseye for tornadoes. we re about to go to him live. i m brooke baldwin, the news is now. a former nfl player found dead. and his family sensed fear in his final phone call. we re on the case. jc penney under fire for this, resemble anyone? plus, two of the world s most violent gangs talking truce from behind bars. and twinkle twinkle little star a 10-year-old girl with weeks to live is being denied a transplant because of her age. now, her parents urgent fight to change the rules. i m not going to tell her she s dying. because she s 10. good to see you. i m brooke baldwin. top of the hour, we talk nasty, nasty weather. dangerous storms are breaking out now in the plains. and we are going to chase that weather live. chad myers, you