On January 29, 2009, we celebrated the 5th anniversary of Raphael’s liver transplant, which marked a significant milestone in his post-transplant life. We are grateful every day for his continued good health and vitality and we wanted to share our celebration with you. Thank you all for your support over the years, both personally and for the Kellner Family Pediatric Liver Disease Foundation’s achievements -- past, present and future.

Through your generosity we have been able to make significant grants including:

• Funding of a Fellowship at the Yale/New Haven Medical Center -- Liver Transplant Department (through which the care of patients, research and training are being advanced)
   
• To the American Liver Foundation (earmarked for pediatric liver diseases)
   
• To the Organ Donor Network of New York (to further their eternal quest to register all of us as organ donors)
   
• And most gratifying, we sponsored (with Yale University) a liver transplant for an infant baby, Zoe, from Guatemala who otherwise would not have been able to have the opportunity to have the life-saving surgery. We brought Zoe to the US and the operation took place in late July of 2008. We are happy to report that she is progressing through her recovery and we hope will be well enough to return home to Guatemala with her parents to be reunited with her brother very soon (more info and photos here).
   

We wanted to take this opportunity to let you all know how thankful we are for your support and for the health and love of our friends and family.

In the coming years, the Foundation we began in celebration of life will continue to help those children who today are suffering with pediatric liver diseases, and will assist in the struggle to someday eradicate these diseases altogether.

All our love,
Samantha, Andrew, Sophie and Raphael