ANNABELLA AND HER FAMILY DON’T KNOW WHO SHE WOULD BE WITHOUT THE FADED SCAR ACROSS HER ABDOMEN.

Born with a rare liver disease, Annabella was five months old when she was put on the list for a liver transplant at Children’s Health℠. And a few months later, her family got the call: There was a new liver for Annabella.

Now 11 years old, 2021 marked a decade since her life-saving transplant surgery at Children’s Health.

“I remember I was so nervous post-transplant about Annabella doing this or that,” her mom, Alexa said.

“And whenever I was worried, Dr. Dev Desai would look at me and say, ‘Alexa, we transplanted her so that she could live. Now, you need to let her live.’”

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Annabella’s transplant, Alexa tacked a timeline of photos on the family’s kitchen backsplash, chronicling the life her daughter was able to live because of her transplant.

There were photos of Annabella as a sleeping newborn with a fluffy bow on her head, weeks before her parents knew she was sick. Another of Alexa cradling a smiling baby Annabella, wrapped in a hospital blanket at Children’s Health shortly after her diagnosis. There were photos of post- transplant doctor appointments; birthday celebrations; Christmas mornings; the arrival of Annabella’s younger sister, Emmeline; and past transplant anniversaries.

“The time seems so long ago, and yet, it doesn’t,” said Shad, Annabella’s dad. “While it’s been 10 years, a lot of those same clinical team members are still at Children’s Health. For the last decade, they’ve watched Annabella grow up, and they’ve been there for us.”