26 July 2012 Last updated at 01:35 ET
Doctors say a County Monaghan teenager who made medical history by using his own stem cells to rebuild his throat is making a successful recovery.
Ciaran Finn-Lynch, 13, from Castleblayney, made medical history as the first child in the world to undergo the pioneering tracheal transplant.
He was born with a condition called Long Segment Tracheal Stenosis which meant he found it difficult to breathe.
Doctors say he has grown 11 centimetres in height and returned to school.
The surgery was a desperate attempt to save his life after earlier treatment failed.
Since the operation, Ciaran has been able to live a normal life free from medication to prevent his immune system rejecting the transplant.
He underwent the procedure at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital in March 2010.
It involved seeding stem cells taken from Ciaran's bone marrow into the collagen "skeleton" of a donor windpipe stripped of its own cells.
Once the structure was implanted, the stem cells were allowed to mature in his body, rather than the usual laboratory "bioreactor".
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Boy's windpipe transplant success