Waukesha Baby Gets Life-Saving Christmas Miracle

CHICAGO -- A five-month-old baby from Waukesha got a live-saving Christmas Miracle recently, one that nobody saw coming.

Daniel McCabe, an infant who suffers from a rare life-threatening liver disorder called biliary atresia, was in need of a liver transplant - and fast.

According to Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago, by Dec. 13, McCabe's condition had taken a turn for the worse.

At 10:15 a.m. on Dec. 13, he was listed for a liver transplant.

According to officials with UNOS, the United Network for Organ Sharing, more than 14,000 people are waiting a liver, and the average wait for a liver is 149 days for adults and 86 days for children.

Then the miracle came.

Just 40 minutes later, at 10:55 a.m., McCabe's physician, Jeffrey Brown, MD, at Lurie, learned a liver had become available. He entered his hospital room and told Melody, Daniel’s mom, “We have a liver,”according to information posted online at Lurie Children's Hospital.

It was an astonishing turnaround time for a liver match.

According to UNOS, over the last five years, Daniel is just one of 43 people nationwide to have waited less than 40 minutes for a life-saving match.

“When Dr. Brown walked into our room and shared the news, I just was speechless. I was immediately so sad but grateful for the donor family. And then at the same time feeling excited and relieved for Daniel,”his mother Melody told Lurie Children's Hospital. “I never thought he would receive a liver this soon. I thought it would be months before a match and that was my biggest worry because he was so sick.”

According to a report from NBC 5 Chicago, as of Dec. 22, Daniel McCabe is recovering from a successful liver transplant conducted at Lurie Hospital - one that ultimately saved his young life.

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