Mom Reunites with Baby Son in ‘Surreal’ Moment After Donating Her Liver to Save His Life

• Ashlynn Moss donated part of her liver to save her baby son, Luka, after he was diagnosed with a rare liver disease
• Luka’s condition worsened despite initial treatments, leading Ashlynn to step in as a living donor for his transplant
• Luka is now healthy and thriving, with his parents expressing gratitude and unconditional love for their son

A mom in Utah donated part of her liver to save her baby’s life, and the pair had an emotional reunion.

Salt Lake City mother Ashlynn Moss gave birth to her son Luka in 2023, but doctors immediately noticed that he had high bilirubin levels. This can cause jaundice, leading the skin and the eyes to yellow.

“After Luka was born, he appeared healthy, but they noticed his jaundice levels were higher,” Ashlynn said, according to Happily TV.

As Luka got progressively sicker, an ultrasound revealed that he had no signs of a gallbladder or connective bile ducts, which are a network of tubes that connect the liver, gallbladder and small intestine, per the Cleveland Clinic. He then underwent his first biopsy when he was just 14 days old, per Newsweek.

The baby boy was eventually diagnosed with biliary atresia, a rare liver disease that occurs when bile builds up. Most babies end up needing a liver transplant.

“As his disease progressed and I saw how truly sick he was getting, I was desperate, and I did not care what it took to save him,” Ashlynn said of her son.

Luka underwent a Kasai surgery to try to replace the blocked bile ducts with part of the small intestine to improve bile flow, per the Cleveland Clinic. Yet, his skin turned even more yellow.

“He went downhill very quickly,” Ashlynn recalled to Newsweek. “Those seven months before his transplant, he got very sick. He was very yellow.”

“We had a deceased liver donor offer, and then it fell through,” she added. “That’s when I knew and had full clarity that it was going to be me who was donating a liver.”

Luka’s father, Hayden, wasn’t a match for the liver transplant due to his body mass after a test. Ashlynn decided to be the “bravest scared mom she could have been,” and she was a match for a liver transplant after completing the test.

“The day of my operation, I was actually excited that morning to go in and just get it done,” she said of doing the surgery in June 2024. “I just wanted him to feel better. I wanted to see him on the other side of the transplant.”

Ashlynn spent three days recovering after “22% of her left lobe was removed,” per Newsweek. “The surgeon personally transferred it to the children’s hospital and began Luka’s surgery, which lasted around eight hours,” she told the outlet.

After the transplant, Ashlynn recalled the “surreal” moment when she walked into the room to see Luka again. “It was out-of-body to know what we had both just been through, and that he was on his way to recovery and doing well,” she explained.

Since then, Luka has been growing stronger each day. “Luka’s current state is he’s healthy. He’s hitting his milestones as a toddler,” Hayden told Newsweek.

“I just want him to know how unconditionally loved he is, and that there were no questions that I would do something for him or any of my children again if I needed to,” mom Ashlynn added.