Dad donates part of his liver to save his baby son

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A mom's intuition about her baby boy led to a liver transplant that saved his life.

The mom trusted her gut, and the dad trusted his as well, he actually donated part of his liver which saved his son's life.

The before pics show little Caleb yellow, jaundiced, and super skinny. At three months he worried his mother Brittany sick.

"We got to two months, three months and he was yellow and bloated and I wanted answers so I just pushed," said Brittany Munn, Caleb's mother.

She says the inaction of her pediatrician was as scary as the diagnosis when she went to other doctors, who explained her baby boy Caleb had a failing liver.

The solution lay with surgery, taking about a quarter of his dad's liver, to become the baby's new liver.

Now Caleb and daddy have matching scars.

"So the liver he has right now is the right size and functions properly and the liver adjusts, from the first time it started working as the boys liver, perfectly," said Dr. Nadia Ovchinsky, of Children's Hospital at Montefiore.

And what about his dad's liver?

"That will grow back to 90% of its original size," Dr. Ovchinsky said.

And soon be 100% back to normal. Brian, the donor daddy, could not believe livers can grow back, almost like a lizard's tail.

"Were you surprised?" Eyewitness News asked.

"Floored," Brian Munn said.

Now mom Brittany can relax with her growing, and healthy baby boy.

And daddy Brian can make jokes for years saying "You want a piece a me?" to his perfect little boy, who all day charmed and amazed everyone at Montefiore who cared for him for two weeks in intensive care.

"I want my mommy," Caleb seemed to say as he fussed, just like any other happy baby.

"Listen to the mom. Mom knows when something is wrong," Eyewitness News said.