Resident of The Woodlands to be this year's ambassador for Liver Life Walk Houston

THE WOODLANDS, Texas--The American Liver Foundation’s 5th annual Liver Life Walk Houston is expected to attract over 800 walkers on Saturday, April 26 at McGregor Park, 5225 Calhoun Rd., in Houston.

“We are so excited to have outgrown our old park location and to move to McGregor Park,” said Event Manager Carmen Herrera. “The support from the community continues to keep this event growing every year.”

Last year’s Liver Life Walk Houston attracted more than 700 walkers and raised more than $100,000 for the Desert Southwest Division of the American Liver Foundation which is comprised of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. The fundraising goal this year for Houston is to raise more than $110,000.

Silver Sponsors for the Liver Life Walk Houston include: The Methodist Center for Liver Disease & Transplantation and Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center. For sponsorship opportunities, contact the American Liver Foundation office.

The Liver Life Walk Houston is a team-based event and each team member is asked to raise $25 in donations. Walkers raising $100 or more will receive a National Liver Life Walk T-shirt. Bronze, Silver, and Gold Liver Life Walk Medals will be awarded to walkers raising $250 or more.

This is an event for people to have fun, enjoy the beautiful spring weather in Houston, and raise money for vital research and support for liver disease. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. and the 5k and 1k walks will start at 10:00 am and conclude at 11:30 a.m. Walkers will enjoy a festive atmosphere with entertainment and food.

Abby, a five-year-old resident of The Woodlands, is this year's Houston Liver Life Walk ambassador.

Abigail Rubye Fields (Abby) was born on December 16, 2008 as part of a set of fraternal twins. On February 16, 2009, the day of her 2 month checkup and shots, Abby's parents packed up the kids and headed to the pediatrician. When the doctor walked in the room the first thing she wanted to know was how long Abby had been jaundiced. She was then sent for lab work. That evening the Fields family got the call that they will never forget. The pediatrician told them that she had received the lab results and that Abby’s liver enzymes were abnormal and the doctors at Texas Children’s Hospital were waiting for them in the emergency room.

Abby was admitted to Texas Children’s Hospital that evening and a battery of tests began. By the end of the week, Abby had the diagnosis of Biliary Atresia, where the common bile duct between the liver and small intestine is blocked or absent. The only treatment for Biliary Atresia is the Kasai procedure and probable liver transplant. Abby had the Kasai procedure on Monday, February 23rd, 2009. She spent a total of 19 days in the hospital.

Over the next few months Abby's family visited the hepatologist on a regular basis to check her lab values and growth. She was hospitalized twice in the summer of 2009 due to an infection within her bile ducts called cholangitis. Since then, she has been a happy and healthy little girl. However, it is never far from the family's minds that someday she will most likely require a life-saving liver transplant.

Today, Abby is a vivacious 5 year-old. She enjoys preschool and is becoming quite the artist. Abby has been involved in ballet, tap, and tumbling classes since she was three and recently finished her first season as a cheerleader for the local peewee football league. In 2012, the Fields family formed Abby’s Angels and joined the Houston Liver Life Walk. In the first two years, they raised approximately $8,000 toward research.