LIVEr Champion

Meet Domenic Frappolli, 2025 Adult Liver Life Walk National LIVEr Champion

I am thrilled to walk with you as this year’s Adult Liver Champion. This is my second Liver Life Walk since I received a live-donor liver transplant at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center on February 1, 2024.   As many of you can appreciate, it has been both a wonderful and humbling experience.

I was diagnosed with Biliary Atresia in 1994, a few weeks after I was born, and underwent a Kasai Procedure when I was 14 weeks old to stabilize my condition. Growing up, my family and I dealt with an array of challenges stemming from my liver disease, but I also had the good fortune of participating in many of the life experiences at any child or young adult should have (in no small part due to my supportive family and amazing medical team).

However, as I aged into my twenties, complications became more frequent and consistent, and my wife and I agreed with my medical team that the time for a transplant had come. I was blessed to have my brother-in-law, Walker, that stepped forward and offered to be my live donor, and with help from our community we prepared and underwent a live-donor transplant in February 2024, just a couple weeks before my 30th birthday.

In the 14 months since surgery, not only have I experienced a transformative physical recovery, but my wife and I welcomed our second child into this world, Violet, and I am honored that she and her older brother, Peter, will both be there to walk with me at our Liver Life Walk this year, while my brother-in-law walks in Pittsburgh with his two sons, while he and my sister prepare for their third child to be borne later this year.

All of the efforts we put into this cause and the contributions we raise will work to give opportunities and life to millions of Americans living and fighting with all kinds of liver disease. By participating in the Liver Life Walk and raising money, you are helping the American Liver Foundation provide funding for the medical research, public education and support services that have changed the lives of countless Americans and will continue to so every day.

Let’s continue to help educate, care for and lift up those in our community working tirelessly to find answers and cures to put an end to liver disease in all its forms. For those of you who can, sign up to be an organ donor or consider being a living donor. Every act makes a difference.

With Sincere Gratitude,

Domenic Frappolli

Meet Isabella Arlt, 2025 Pediatric Liver Life Walk National LIVEr Champion

When I turned 15, I thought I’d be celebrating like any other teenager—hanging out with friends, eating cake, and making memories. But instead, my birthday was completely overshadowed by something I never saw coming: a diagnosis of liver failure. Two words that left my parents and brother in shock and me feeling completely overwhelmed. I didn’t fully understand what it all meant, but I knew it was serious. The days that followed were a whirlwind of tests, procedures, and endless waiting—waiting for something I had no control over.

But in that darkest of times, I also discovered something powerful: hope. And I found it in unexpected places—through the love and support of my family, my friends, the amazing doctors and nurses at Texas Children’s Hospital and even strangers who lifted me up.

Just three weeks after being diagnosed, I received a liver transplant. That moment changed everything. Someone I’ll never meet made the selfless decision to give me a second chance at life. And through that single act of kindness, I discovered a deeper purpose: to raise awareness about organ donation and inspire others to help give people like me a chance to live.

Organ donation is not just a medical procedure; it is a profound expression of love and generosity. For me, it’s an opportunity to keep dreaming, to keep fighting, and to keep living. But there are still so many people out there waiting for their chance—thousands of stories on hold, waiting to be written. You have the power to change that. By choosing to become an organ donor, you have the opportunity to make a lasting impact and be a part of someone else’s story of hope and recovery.

I am here today because of an organ donor. I will never be able to personally thank the person who gave me the ultimate gift, but I am committed to honoring her legacy by making it my mission to raise awareness about organ donation. Being named the 2025 American Liver Foundation’s, Pediatric LIVEr Champion is a humbling honor. It’s a chance to speak for those who can’t, to share my story, and to remind the world of the difference one simple decision can make.

Here’s something that still amazes me: one organ donor can save up to 8 lives. That’s 8 families given hope, 8 people given a second chance.

Imagine the legacy you could leave behind. A legacy that transcends time, that makes the world a little brighter, a little more hopeful. You have the chance to give life—and in doing so, restore hope to those who need it most.

Bella Arlt