( CNN ) -- Sarah Murnaghan , the Philadelphia girl who underwent a lung transplant this month after a court battle , struggled after a breathing tube was removed Wednesday , so doctors `` sedated and re-intubated '' the girl , her mother said through a family representative . `` It 's been an excruciating day . We extubated Sarah and her body could not handle the reduced support , '' Janet Ruddock Murnaghan said in a statement issued by a representative . `` It was impossibly painful watching her struggle to breath and panic . `` I have cried quite a bit , I just wish everything was n't so ridiculously hard for her , '' the mother said . Doctors have assured the family `` that this does not change her long-term outcome but just means she needs more time to regain her strength , '' the mother said . `` One day Sarah will take that first glorious breath and we will celebrate ! '' The 10-year-old girl remains on a ventilator and has been unable to talk , but she can nod and shake her head in response to questions , said Tracy Simon , a family spokeswoman , this week . Before her transplant surgery , Sarah , who suffers from cystic fibrosis , was put in a medically induced coma to allow her body to rest . Her family fought to allow children to compete with adults waiting for lungs based on sickness in a case that has sparked a public debate . She received new lungs on June 12 after a six-hour surgery that included resizing lungs from an adult . The parents ' push for an organ transplant policy change has thrust the issue of who gets donated organs into the national spotlight . This month , the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network 's executive committee approved a one-year change that makes children younger than 12 eligible for priority on adult lung transplant lists . The girl has been in and out of hospitals her entire life , but her condition worsened this year . Her lungs had been deteriorating rapidly over the past few months -- much faster than anyone in her family expected . In May , doctors told her mother that Sarah had less than five weeks to live .
Sarah Murnaghan , 10 , panics and struggles without breathing tube . ` ` Her body could not handle the reduced support , '' her mother says . Sedating and re-intubating her `` does not change her long-term outcome '' she will likely die in a few months from complications of pneumonia or another complication that is unknown at this time.'