Colleen's BA 5K

Taking Strides for Pediatric Liver Disease
October 14, 2023

The Colleen Mitchel Memorial Fund, through its annual BA 5K, has donated $235,000 to support organ donation awareness in our community and research at the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Liver Center into the root cause of biliary atresia (the most serious pediatric liver disease) and improving outcomes of children living with liver disease and post-transplant! We couldn’t accomplish this without you!

Colleen Mitchel

The Reason For the Run.

Colleen Mitchel attended Grace Episcopal Day School in Kensington and Walter Johnson (WJ) High School in Bethesda. Colleen was born with biliary atresia (BA), the most serious liver disease of infancy and childhood, and died in 2013 at age 19 due to complications with liver disease, after waiting almost 4 years on the transplant list. She was a sophomore at the University of Michigan.

As a tribute to Colleen, and to aid in the effort to discover the cause of biliary atresia, her family has organized this annual community fundraiser. Proceeds support BA research at Johns Hopkins Pediatric Liver Center in Baltimore, Maryland and organ donation awareness in our community.

Saturday, October 14th at 9am

Colleen's BA 5K is an annual event established in memory of Colleen Mitchel, who was born with liver disease (biliary atresia or BA) and died in 2013 at 19 years old from complications due to liver disease, while awaiting another liver transplant.

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Just what is

Biliary Atresia?

Biliary atresia is a life-threatening condition in infants in which the bile ducts inside or outside the liver do not have normal openings. It is not known why the biliary system fails to develop normally. In babies with biliary atresia, bile flow from the liver to the gallbladder is blocked. This can lead to liver damage and cirrhosis of the liver, which is deadly if not treated.

Your financial donation to the Colleen Mitchel Memorial Fund will support biliary atresia research at the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Liver Center and promote organ donation awareness in the D.C. area! All donations are tax deductible.

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Updates from Johns Hopkins:
Alternatives to Whole Liver Transplants Have Become Safer
Split Liver Transplants Could Help Sickest Children
Giving Transplant Patients Digital Wings

Donations to Johns Hopkins

Your support matters!

Thanks to your support, the Colleen Mitchel Memorial Fund and the annual BA 5K have donated almost $160,000 to support organ donation awareness programs in the DC area and ground-breaking research at the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Liver Center into the root cause of BA (and a cure), as well as improving outcomes of children living with liver disease and post-transplant!

Helping Children with Liver Disease