Liver Recipient Meets Donor’s Family

The sister of a Kentucky girl who saved a toddler’s life by donating her liver said she was glad to contact the recipient 24 after years after the surgery.

Trine Engebretsen, 26, became the first person in Florida to receive a liver transplant 24 years ago, The Miami Herald reported. Engebretsen said she needed the transplant because she was extremely ill from a genetic disorder that stopped her liver from making an essential enzyme.

Her life was spared when she was given the liver of Amanda DeLapp, a Kentucky toddler who lost her life to a brain tumor.

Amanda DeLapp’s sister, Keisha DeLapp, said she always wanted to talk to the organ recipient and was glad to contact Engebretsen through the social networking Web site, MySpace.com.

Keisha DeLapp and her mother finally came face to face with Engebretsen Friday at the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, the newspaper said.

You couldn’t have asked for a better person to receive that gift, Keisha said.