Ailing Baby Gets the Gift of Life From Grandmother

Scott Hand is one man who only has good things to say about his mother-in-law.

That has certainly been the case since she decided to donate part of her liver to save the life of his 6-month-old daughter.

The unusual procedure--said to be the first of its kind in Los Angeles--occurred two weeks ago when Sherry Marquez and tiny Lydia Hand underwent simultaneous operations in a pair of hospitals eight miles apart.

The transplant corrected a condition called biliary atresia, which had blocked development of the baby’s bile ducts and caused cirrhosis and jaundice.

“I won’t joke about my mother-in-law anymore. I can’t,” a grateful Hand said Tuesday as his daughter bounced on Marquez’s knee at Childrens Hospital in Hollywood.

The Hands and Marquez, all Lancaster residents, agreed to the transplant when doctors decided it was Lydia’s only chance.

Doctors had hoped to use a portion of one of her parents’ organs. But the liver of her father, a 28-year-old computer programmer, was judged too large. And the blood type of mother Nicole, 24, did not match the baby’s.

Marquez said she didn’t hesitate when she learned she was a perfect match. Surgeons took about 25% of her liver, which is expected to regenerate itself.

“We were just dumbfounded with what doctors could do with a piece of it,” said Marquez, 44, secretary at Lancaster Baptist Church.

Surgeons who took one of her liver lobes Sept. 30 at USC University Hospital in Boyle Heights carefully examined it before giving the green light to Childrens Hospital to remove Lydia’s damaged liver. Childrens Hospital was not set up to perform the operation on the adult, officials said.

The organ was transported across town in an ice chest by Dr. Rick Selby of University Hospital, who implanted it in the baby.

Childrens Hospital’s Dr. Daniel Thomas said Lydia’s outlook is good. “Until 30 years ago this was a fatal condition,” he said of biliary atresia. Still, he added, there is a possibility of organ rejection, which could require another transplant.

If that happens, it will be mother-in-law to the rescue again, although a different one. It turns out that both grandmothers share perfect liver and blood-type matches with Lydia.

In fact, Linda Hand of Jakin, Ga., lobbied to donate part of her liver to Lydia last month. “But my mother-in-law is younger than my mom,” Scott Hand whispered.

Linda Hand, 54, is comfortable being the standby. “I’ve got the backup liver,” she said.