At 10 months, Presley Carter is your typical happy baby. She loves to smile, enjoys “talking” on her toy cell phone, and looks like she's just about ready to walk.

“After this past year, I finally get to enjoy my baby,” mother Kristin Durham told CultureMap, as Presley played with her hair in a small waiting room at Memorial Hermann's Texas Liver Center.

Born on Jan. 30, 2011, Presley had liver issues from the start. After performing an exploratory surgery six weeks later, doctors diagnosed her with biliary atresia, a rare disorder which would require a transplant as soon as possible.

"My steps were so heavy after we found out," Durham said. "It was like the whole world slowed down. I can remember the moment so vividly."

Physicians rushed through the extensive battery of tests needed to get the baby on an organ donor list, which finally happened in early summer. After only a month of waiting, Dr. Steve Bynon, a pediatric surgical specialist with the UTHealth Science Center and Memorial Hermann Hospital, informed Durham and father Erik Carter that an organ was available.

Durham shared a picture of her daughter from July, showing a small newborn with eyes and skin yellowed with jaundice — a far cry from the bright-eyed baby Presley is today. A day after the photo was taken, Bynon, who is director of Division of Immunology and Organ Transplant at the UTHealth Medical School, performed the transplant.

“Before the procedure,” she said, “we actually thought she had olive skin under the amber tones caused by the liver problems."

"Hours after the surgery, though, her knees and elbows became this healthy pink color and her skin became fair," she laughed. "We couldn't believe it."

Durham and Carter were shocked to see how quickly the transplant affected their baby. Presley started gaining weight almost immediately, allowing her to be released from the hospital in near-record time.

“Presley was only in the hospital a week after the transplant, rather than a month recipients normally need to recuperate,” Durham said.

“Babies heal very quickly, but Presley’s done so much better than expected after such a serious surgical procedure,” said Dr. Essam Imseis, the pediatric gastroenterologist with UTHealth Science Center and Memorial Hermann Hospital. While a rare issue among newborns, Imseis noted, biliary atresia is the most common reason for pediatric liver transplants. One in about 15,000 children born are afflicted with the ailment, which causes scarring in the bile ducts.

"The physician's assistant warned us there would be bumps in the road," Durham said, noting the bumps so far have been limited to classic baby firsts — teething and potty training.