When 3-year-old Lucy Boucher of Northern Ireland was a baby, she suffered heart failure, which resulted in her body, including her kidneys, being starved of oxygen. Though surgery addressed Lucy's heart condition, she still faced a lifetime of dialysis treatment due to her kidney failure.
Fast forward to Nov. 24, 2015, a day when medical history was made and Lucy's life was forever changed. On that day, medical experts at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital used 3D printing to perform the first-ever kidney transplant surgery involving an adult donor -- in this case, Lucy's father -- and a child recipient.
In the video that follows, Lucy's surgeon details how 3D modeling was instrumental in this case, explaining the promise it holds for the future of medicine.
Meanwhile, you'll witness Lucy's remarkable ability to bounce back from both a daunting diagnosis and complicated medical procedure. At age three, her infectious spirit far exceeds her years.