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LIVERIGHT OUTCOME It wasn't until a week after Heather Eastman gave birth to son Owen that she looked through the hospital's discharge package and found a “poop card,” a home screening tool for a rare liver disease. After reading the card, Heather began checking Owen's stool and noticed that it matched an abnormal colour. After emailing a picture to her doctor, Heather's heart sank when she got a call back within 15 minutes. Owen was diagnosed with biliary atresia (blocked bile duct), an often fatal liver disease that affects babies in the first month of life.

Over the following couple of weeks, Heather travelled back and forth to B.C. Children's Hospital for tests and assessments on Owen, who was in need of life-saving surgery. “He was jaundiced and too tired to cry; I knew there was a chance Owen wasn't coming back to us, so when I kissed him, I smelled his little head and made a note to remember the smell,” said Eastman. Surgery to re-establish bile flow from the liver to the intestine was Owen's only hope beyond a liver transplant with the procedure's success rate at 80 per cent if performed within the first two months of birth.

Fast-forward a year and Heather is holding a rambunctious Owen on stage at the Canadian Liver Foundation's Live-Right Gala, sharing their story and happy ending. “The stool card allowed Owen to be diagnosed at a critical period. With no single blood test for biliary atresia, stool colour is the main tool for early detection,” Eastman shared. Her message resonated with a capacity crowd that filled the new Trump Tower Ballroom for the gala's 13th staging. Fronted by Dr. Francis Ho and Emily Lin, the formal dinner and auction hosted by Sophie Lui and yours truly raised a record $620,000. The Scotiabank-sponsored night recognized benefactors for the cause, those who have been affected by liver disease and Owen's doctor, pediatric liver specialist Dr. Richard Schreiber.

Heather Eastman and her husband Kory said a stool card was vital in diagnosing their son Owen’s biliary atresia. Often fatal if not detected early, the disease occurs in one of every 19,000 births in Canada. Happy ending

Gala chairs Dr. Francis Ho and Emily Lin saw their LiveRight Fundraising Gala christen the Trump Tower Ballroom. The benefit saw nearly 500 guests contribute to a record-breaking $620,000 raised.

Pediatric liver specialist Dr. Richard Schreiber escorted his wife Christine Brownstein to the Canadian Liver Foundation’s flagship fundraiser.

Global TV’s Sophie Lui was MC of Monica Chui’s LiveRight Gala, which raised money for research, education and support for families living with liver disease.