One-year-old Paityn Elston has been out of the hospital for nearly two weeks after two liver transplants in August. (Submitted photo)

By Steve Browne

The little girl at the center of the community’s hopes and prayers is doing better and is out of the hospital, her grandfather says.
“She’s taking steps forward,” said Mike Prosby of Valley City. “The liver’s doing fine, it’s everything else that’s a problem.”
Paityn Elston was born July 20, 2008, with biliary atresia, a condition that prevents her liver from excreting bile.
Paityn had a liver transplant on Aug. 9, which was not successful, followed by a second transplant on Aug. 16. Both operations were performed at the Children’s Hospital at the University of Minnesota Medical Center in Minneapolis.
Paityn has been out of the hospital for almost two weeks now and is staying at the Minneapolis Ronald McDonald House with her parents, Jason and Angie Elston, who grew up in Barnes County.

For the full story, see the Nov. 27-29, 2009, Weekend Edition of the Times-Record.