Five-month-old Daniel McCabe was in need of a Christmas miracle: a lifesaving liver transplant and fast. Emily Florez reports. (Published Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016) 
 
 Christmas Miracle: Baby Boy in Need of Liver Transplant Gets Donor Match 40 Minutes After Being Listed 
 
 Five-month-old Daniel McCabe was in need of a Christmas miracle: a lifesaving liver transplant and fast. 
 
 Daniel, who suffers from a rare liver disorder called biliary atresia, was listed at 10:15 a.m. on Dec. 13, his family hoping their Christmas wish would soon come true. 
 
 But no one could have expected just how soon. 
 
 "I expected to be waiting a while," said Daniel's mother Melody McCabe. 
 
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 By 10:55 a.m., a liver became available on the deceased donor registry, and it was a match. 
 
 According to Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, the short wait time is extremely rare. 
 
 "It's extraordinary about the timing that this happened," said Dr. Riccardo Superine, a pediatric transplant surgeon. 
 
 Over the last five years, only 43 people nationwide have waited 40 minutes or less for a match, including Daniel, said the hospital, citing the United Network for Organ Sharing. On average, 6,000 people receive a liver each year, the organization reports, but more than 14,000 people are waiting for a liver, with the average wait being 149 days for adults and 86 days for children. 
 
 Daniel, of Waukesha, Wisconsin, underwent a successful transplant at the hospital last Wednesday. Eight days later, he has opened his eyes and is looking healthier than ever — a miracle that came just in time for the holidays. 
 
 "This is a Christmas we'll never forget," said Daniel's father Joseph McCabe. 
 
 An Ice Castle Rises in Wisconsin ||||| ‘One in a million’ liver transplant for 5-month-old Daniel McCabe 
 
 Forty minutes after being listed for a transplant, 5-month-old Daniel McCabe received a matching liver and underwent a successful surgery. | Photo provided by Lurie Children’s Hospital 
 
 On Dec. 13, at 10:10 a.m., 5-month-old Daniel Paul McCabe, who suffers from a rare liver disorder known as biliary atresia, was put at the top of the waiting list for a new liver. 
 
 About 30 minutes later, a phone rang at Lurie Children’s Hospital. A liver had been found. 
 
 About an hour later, McCabe’s dad, Joe McCabe, an electrical engineer, stepped out of a business meeting to field a phone call from his wife. 
 
 When he walked back in, his colleagues, knowing what hung in the balance, looked at him in silence. “They have a liver,” he told them. And the room exploded with high fives. 
 
 The celebration was warranted. The United Network for Organ Sharing says that more than 14,000 people are waiting for a liver, and the average wait time is 86 days for a child. But Daniel got lucky, becoming one of 43 people nationwide – or one half of one percent — to have waited less than 40 minutes for a match. 
 
 Two surgeons left Chicago about 7:30 a.m. on Dec. 14 in a Learjet to begin the transplant process, arriving in Milwaukee some 20 minutes later. 
 
 They were shuttled to a hospital in Southern Wisconsin where they removed a liver from a man in his 30s who was brain dead. The law prevents sharing information about how he died, but he was kept on life support so his organs could be extracted to save as many lives as possible. 
 
 His liver, stored in a cooler filled with ice, was flown back to Midway Airport. An SUV with sirens and lights arrived back at Lurie about 4 p.m. 
 
 “It can be jumpy,” Justin Boese, Lurie’s Organ Procurement Coordinator, said of walking around with a cooler containing a human organ. “Especially the first time. But you get used to it. 
 
 “People always say ‘What do you do if you drop it?’ I always say ‘You don’t.'” 
 
 Because livers regenerate, the liver was cut into two — with the other portion going to a patient at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Boese said. 
 
 At about 8 p.m., when Dr. Riccardo Superina began transplant surgery on Daniel Paul McCabe, the infant’s skin was an odd shade of yellow because his malfunctioning liver was not allowing his body to get the nutrients it needed. 
 
 Superina, a veteran surgeon, listened to a classic rock play list as he inserted the liver. Creedence Clearwater Revival is one his favorites. Sometime he’ll listen to Bob Dylan, too. “But he can be depressing,” Superina said. 
 
 Surgery lasted about eight hours. It was a success. 
 
 Remarking on the speed of the organ match, Superina said Thursday at a news conference: “It’s one in a million, you know, I can’t ever remember having something like this happen. We were prepared to wait a few months, in fact at one point I think the plan was to evaluate one of the parents for donations.” 
 
 After realizing his against-the-odds good fortune, Joe McCabe, said he prayed. 
 
 “We have a very strong prayer network, and I can only chalk this up to some sort of divine intervention,” he said. 
 
 He later added that he also bought a lottery ticket shortly after receiving the good news. 
 
 “I think from here going forward for us Christmas will have a double meaning,” said his wife, Melody. “Not only celebrating the birth of Jesus but also having a second life for our son.” ||||| CHICAGO — A five-month-old baby boy from Waukesha received a life-saving liver transplant less than an hour after he was placed on the transplant list. 
 
 According to Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, Daniel McCabe, a five-month-old boy who WMAQ says is from Waukesha, Wisconsin was listed for a liver transplant at 10:15 a.m. on December 13th. 
 
 Forty minutes later, at 10:55 a.m., the boy’s doctor, Jeffrey Brown, learned a liver was available. He entered his hospital room and told Melody, Daniel’s mom, “We have a liver.” 
 
 Daniel McCabe was born with biliary atresia, a rare liver disease. His condition took a turn for the worse. 
 
 According to Lurie Children’s Hospital, the boy’s short wait on the United Network of Organ Sharing list (UNOS) is extremely rare. 
 
 According to UNOS, over the last five years, Daniel McCabe 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. 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,” Melody McCabe said in a blog post by Lurie Children’s Hospital officials. 
 
 Daniel underwent a successful liver transplant and continues to recover. 
 
 During this season of giving, Daniel’s family feels they received the ultimate gift. 
 
 “We had a lot of prayer warriors praying for Daniel. This is the greatest gift we could receive this season,” Melody McCabe said.
– Daniel McCabe is just 5 months old, but he's been fighting a rare liver disorder since he was born. On Dec. 13, things had become so dire that doctors placed him on the waiting list for a new liver and prepared to wait weeks, if not months, with his life in the balance. As it turns out, they waited less than an hour, reports NBC Chicago. Daniel went on the list at 10:15am, and at 10:55am, a doctor received the good news and walked into his room at Chicago's Lurie Children's Hospital to inform his mom. "I was just speechless," recounted Melody McCabe, per Fox 6 News. With good reason: The average wait for a liver is 149 days for adults and 86 days for kids. The infant from Waukesha, Wisconsin, had successful surgery the following evening is now recuperating. “It’s one in a million, you know," surgeon Riccardo Superina tells the Chicago Sun-Times. "I can’t ever remember having something like this happen. We were prepared to wait a few months—in fact at one point I think the plan was to evaluate one of the parents for donations.” Only about 40 people have gotten a match in 40 minutes or less over the last five years. Not much is known about the donor in this case, other than he was a male in his 30s. One footnote: His liver was split in two and thus saved the lives of two patients. Daniel's parents expressed sorrow for the donor's family as well as profound thanks. "This is a Christmas we'll never forget," says dad Daniel McCabe. (Apple's Tim Cook offered Steve Jobs part of his liver.)