A local family whose daughter died last year awaiting a liver transplant is holding a 5K fundraiser to help discover the cause of a form of liver disease.

Colleen Mitchel was born with biliary atresia (BA), a serious liver disease affecting infants and children. Mitchel had a liver transplant at seven months old and went through six months of chemotherapy to treat a form of lymphoma at 22 months old.

Throughout middle school and high school, Mitchel battled infections and medical complications but still played field hockey and enjoyed her time at Walter Johnson High School. She graduated from Walter Johnson in 2011 and started at the University of Michigan that fall.

Her health declined in her sophomore year and after spending a month in intensive care awaiting another liver transplant, she died in March 2013, a week shy of her 20th birthday.

Colleen’s BA 5K is set for June 7 at Grace Episcopal Day School (9411 Connecticut Ave.) and will travel along Beach Drive in Kensington and Chevy Chase.

The Colleen Mitchel Memorial Fund was set up by the Mitchel family and the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region to fund research into biliary artresia at the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Liver Center. It’s at Johns Hopkins where Mitchel received much of her care — there are more than 190 medical entries in her file there, including 15 operations and 41 hospital admissions.

“Many admired her strength and resilience, knowing all that she went through as an infant and toddler — the liver transplant, lymphoma, chemotherapy, blood transfusions, and hospitalizations,” reads the race website.

The family is also accepting donations for the Memorial Fund. For more information, visit the race website.

Photo via Colleen’s BA 5K