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Alazemi was born with severe Hirschsprung's disease, a condition in which a lack of nerve cells in the intestine prevent it from receiving signals from the brain to move food forward in the intestinal tract. This can cause obstruction or blockage, an inability to tolerate feeding and ultimately liver failure, which can lead to a need for transplantation of organs for survival.

Alazemi, who was born in Kuwait on Dec. 12, 2003, was diagnosed with long segment Hirschsprung's disease involving nearly all of the small and large intestine shortly after birth. He became very sick very quickly. It was determined he would need an intestinal transplant in order for him to live. Officials in his country determined he should come to Boston for surgery and agreed to assist with medical costs and living expenses.

The Alazemi family arrived in Boston last February with Abdullah only weighing 4 kilos (8.8 lbs.). The Short Bowel Program, run by Drs. Tom Jaksic and Christopher Duggan, treated Abdullah so that he would gain weight and be healthy enough to undergo the transplant. He was placed on the transplant waiting list in April in hopes that small enough organs would become available before he got sicker.

''The organs are really treated as one,'' says Dr. Kim. ''All the organs are kept connected and transplanted all at once. In this case, the patient needed the intestine and the liver. The stomach and pancreas came along for the ride. Since the baby is so small, it is easier to leave the organs together for transplant.''

Surgeons need only to connect one artery (the aorta - the body's main artery) and one vein when reattaching the organs into the patient, as opposed to all the blood vessels that would be involved with each organ separately.

''We were pleasantly surprised with how well he did after the operation,'' says Kim. ''He spent eight days in the Intensive Care Unit and has been in the hospital for three months. Now he's ready to go home.''

Despite a bout with an infection and having to take medication to fight graft-versus-host disease, a condition in which the donor organs reject the host, Abdullah has done very well after his complicated surgery. He will stay in the area for the next several months until his parents feel comfortable with the ongoing care they will need to provide for him, and until Children's doctors give the nod that he is healthy enough to head back to Kuwait.

Abdullah's parents, Ahmed and Reem, are thrilled to see their son doing so well, especially after he came to the U.S. as such a sick infant. Alazemi took leave from his job with the Kuwaiti Ministry of the Interior, where he is employed controlling the border between Kuwait and Iraq, to come to the U.S.

The Alazemi's brought their 4-year-old daughter, Fatma, to the U.S. with them. They left their other two daughters, Afrah, 12, and Rwan, 9, with their paternal grandmother and aunt in Kuwait.

This operation was a first for Children's Hospital Boston and a first for their team of surgeons. Multivisceral transplants began in 1987 and the procedure slowly grew in popularity throughout the 1990s. The University of Pittsburgh, the University of Miami, and the University of Nebraska are the three major centers with the most experience performing this operation. The Children's team visited the University of Miami and the University of Pittsburgh to learn the operation before starting the New England program this past summer.

For more information about the center, call (888) CH-LIVER or (888) 245-4837 or locally (617) 35-LIVER (617-355-4837). For more information about Hirschsprung's disease and its treatment, visit: www.childrenshospital.org. To learn more about organ donation, call the New England Organ Bank at (800) 446-NEOB.