Baby Gets Liver From Live Donor

A San Jose infant was recovering Sunday from what doctors described as the West Coast’s first liver transplant from a live donor.

Andrew Hiebert, just under 6 months old, was in stable condition at the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center. His aunt, who donated a small piece of her liver to the 14-pound baby, was in stable to good condition, the hospital said.

“Even though it’s a little painful, I’d do it again,” said Melissa Lunetta, a Stockton schoolteacher. “I’m very happy for Andrew.”

The piece of liver Lunetta donated is expected to grow and function inside her nephew. Meanwhile, her own liver is expected to regenerate in six to eight weeks.

The daylong procedure was performed Friday by Dr. Jean C. Emond, who has led the only living-donor liver transplant program in the nation for the past year at the University of Chicago. Emond estimated that fewer than 100 of the operations have been performed worldwide. Such operations are successful 90% of the time.