effort to save her life.

Little Laura Davies has spent six months in a Pittsburgh hospital after a rare double organ transplant was performed in June.

And Bermuda's British Airways Press officer Mrs. Sally Singleton flew to Manchester with Laura and her parents, Mr. Les and Mrs. Fran Davies, after officiating over the US press conference.

BA, with the help of the British Government, flew the family from Eccles in Manchester to the US in May.

Laura required the transplant because she was born with a condition known as "short-gut syndrome'' in which her small intestine was unable to absorb nutrients from food. An operation to lengthen the organ was not successful.

She received a new liver and small intestine in a 151 hour operation which had been performed 17 times in Pittsburgh.

Before the transplant, she was kept alive by intravenous feeding, but the process destroyed her liver, necessitating the double transplant.

The family needed approximately $645,000 for the urgent operation. King Fahd of Saudi Arabia gave them a cheque for $275,000 and the people of Eccles raised the balance to send Laura to Pittsburgh.

Since the surgery, Laura has grown taller, gained weight and no longer retains body fluids as she did before the transplants And she is much more lively. She ended the press conference at Pittsburgh by grabbing the microphone and singing "Baa Baa Black Sheep'' and "Jingle Bells.'' Mrs. Singleton said: "I've been asked to fly up to Pittsburgh today to run the press conference. It is a great experience for Bermudians to be a part of that. It's an honour for me to go and handle a US press conference.

"A lot of journalists are expected to be there. At least a dozen journalists will fly to Britain with the little girl. It's a great challenge. I'm really looking forward to it.'' "In Manchester there will be a big press conference to welcome her home tomorrow.'' Laura's aunt, Mrs Lesley Burns, speaking from the family home, said: "It is going to be a low key welcome home. She is very active but we are trying to be careful.'' "We will probably have a bigger event a little later on when we know she is making a full recovery.''