It was recently revealed that a distant 12-year-old cousin to Vice President J.D. Vance who needs a heart transplant was denied an opportunity to receive one by a major hospital because she has not been vaccinated against the flu or COVID-19.

Now that young girl's mother is worried about how much longer her daughter has to live and has called for an emergency intervention on her behalf, according to the Daily Mail.

It is unclear what, if anything, VP Vance or President Donald Trump might have the authority to do if they did attempt to intervene, and the girl's family is looking into alternatives, such as other hospitals that don't require seasonal vaccinations prior to an organ transplant surgery.

Young girl needs a new heart

At the center of this troubling story is Adaline Deal, 12, a Chinese girl who was adopted as a young child by a family distantly related to VP Vance who lives in Indiana.

Adaline has been diagnosed with potentially deadly heart defects that include what is known as an Ebstein anomaly, in which a misformed valve in the heart can malfunction and cause blood to flow in the reverse direction, as well as Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, another congenital birth defect that causes an irregularly fast heartbeat.

In addition to those issues, the girl also suffers from an enlarged heart and cerebral palsy that, combined with her deteriorating heart problems, has kept her largely confined to a wheelchair in recent years.

Vaccine status discrimination

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Adaline's adoptive mother, Janeen Deal, admitted she "doesn't know how long" the girl has left to live after she was denied a heart transplant operation by Cincinnati Children's Hospital, which requires transplant recipients to be up to date on all vaccines, including for the flu and covid -- the only two vaccines that she has not received.

The family declined to give her those two seemingly optional vaccines because of their religious beliefs as well as concerns that the covid vaccine in particular could cause additional damage to her already weakened heart.

Though she is not asking for any "special treatment" for her daughter, Deal told the outlet, "I pray that President Trump and all of the states will stand up for everyone facing vaccination status [discrimination] due to their conscientious and religious beliefs."

"You know, I'm a mom -- I want to know how long we have, I want to be prepared and know that she isn't just going to die on me right then and there," she continued. "But the doctors, they just don't know how long she's got or anything like that."

"They just tell us that if she starts declining over the weekend or showing sudden changes then we should rush her into the hospital and call them if it's a weekend," the worried mother added.

Hospital explains why it denied a transplant over vaccine status

For their part, Cincinnati Children's Hospital released a statement in which they explained that organs for transplants are "limited" and that it was their responsibility to "ensure that every donated organ is used in a way that maximizes successful outcomes for children in need."

"Because children who receive a transplant will be immunosuppressed for the rest of their life, vaccines play a critical role in preventing or reducing the risk of life-threatening infections, especially in the first year," the hospital added. "These decisions involve discussion between our providers and the patient’s family."

In the meantime, the Deal family is looking into other options, such as the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, which prefers but doesn't require covid vaccinations for transplant patients, and a GoFundMe has been established to help raise money for a heart transplant, with more than $63,000 already raised toward a $100,000 goal.