Tonight on Dateline, a story of hope and thanksgiving.
Her name is Bella and her short young life has been a battle.
She was diagnosed with a disease that we were told would take her liver and kidney.
Could they save her? The only chance, a rare and risky double transplant.
It's a very unforgiving operation.
But it's a sacrifice a father will make for a daughter in danger.
I felt like this was my opportunity to do something greater for my child.
Dateline takes you on an extraordinary journey into the OR.
We almost lost her.
And into the very heart of a family's emotional struggle.
I'm scared to death.
Life and death decisions.
This liver is just not going to survive and we need to re-transplant her.
Desperate hours.
My baby girl.
A rollercoaster of hope.
Things went very well today.
And heartbreak.
We told her just one more day and then if you have to let go you can let go but one more day.
Through it all, a courageous child fights to live.
Let's see you take some breaths.
Good girl.
How much can her tiny body take? How much can her family give?
Isabella is absolutely a little tiny miracle.
Rob Stafford with a very special Thanksgiving love story.
The miracle of baby Bella.
From our studios in New York, here is Stone Phillips.
Good evening.
She made headlines after they made a superhuman effort to save her.
Tonight we bring you the story of a tenacious little miracle you'll soon come to know as Bella.
She endured an incredible medical odyssey, captured for the first time by our colleagues at MSNBC.
A double transplant case, her doctors say was one of the most challenging they ever faced.
You're about to see just how hard this small child fought to stay alive.
And what an extraordinary sacrifice her family made to ensure she did.
Here's Rob Stafford.
Happy birthday dear Bella, happy birthday to you.
Isabella Huffman, known as Bella, is celebrating a birthday with her family at their home in Louisville, Kentucky.
Her dad Danny works for the Ford Motor Company.
Her mom Rachel stays home to care for her and her four-year-old brother Colin.
How old are you, Bella?
Two.
Bella was born in March 1999, a healthy six-pound, 14-ounce baby girl.
The Huffmans could not have been happier.
Our lives have been charmed.
We had the White House and the White Picket Fence and a great job, two healthy kids.
I mean, it was just perfect.
We've done everything right.
We went to college and we got married and we bought a house and we had babies.
We had a little boy and a little girl and to be just totally in love with each other.
You know, we always felt just perfect for each other.
But then when Bella was nine months old, her pediatrician noticed that her liver was enlarged.
Next thing we know, we get in the car at work saying that there's something wrong with her kidneys,
something wrong with her liver.
Next thing we know, we're in the hospital.
It took three hours to get ultrasound results.
I knew it was bad, but I didn't have any idea how bad.
And they said she has a grossly enlarged liver, she has abnormal kidneys, and she has gallstones.
She was diagnosed with a disease that we were told would take her liver and kidney
and would require a dual organ transplant.
It turned out Bella had a genetic disease that was causing her liver and her kidneys to fail.
But it was not a recurring disease.
So with a new liver and kidney, Bella could still live a long and healthy life.
Without them though, she would die within a year.
Getting new organs from someone who dies can take a long time, months, even years.
But there's another possibility, getting organs from someone living.
But who will the donor be?
The Huffman's decide Bella must be saved and they will save her.
So Bella's father Danny agrees to donate part of his liver and one of his kidneys to save his little girl.
There is a risk that Danny, Bella, or both can die from this surgery.
But everyone agrees it is worth the risk.
Over the next few months, this family will experience both exhilaration and heartache,
all in an effort to save their little girl.
For the high-risk procedure, the Huffman's travel to Chicago,
where a team of doctors at Children's Memorial Hospital
will attempt this double transplant operation with both organs from one live donor.
A procedure only performed a few times in the world.
The head of the surgical team is Dr. Rick Superina.
Bella is the only patient that I've ever done a liver kidney transplant on under the age of two.
Because of the unusual nature of her disease and the unusual age,
she's like the first experience for me for a double transplant in an infant.
For the last year, Bella's kidneys have been failing, forcing her to be put on dialysis,
a process which removes waste from her system.
Two weeks earlier, the surgical team...