Infant waits for a liver transplant

Kennebunk Post | Tracy Orzel
Photo: Zoé’ Paul’s older sister, Morgan Butler, 8, feeds her sister for the first time. The first time Morgan saw Zoé’s feeding tube, she lamented that it was “too much for such a little girl.” Paul was born with biliary atresia and is awaiting a liver transplant. (Courtesy photo) 

Kennebunk girl one of six in Boston region waiting for surgery  

KENNEBUNK â€" When 10-month-old Zoé Paul wakes up in the morning, the first words out of her mouth are “play.”

One of Zoé’s favorite things to play is the piano, just like her father, Selwyn Paul, who taught her how to touch the keys with her fingers.

After she’s dressed, her mother, Christina Butler, prepares her bottle. Most of the time Zoé is able to drink her bottle the same way most babies do, with her mouth, as long as she consumes two and a half ounces a day. Otherwise, she must make up the balance with a feeding tube.

That’s because Zoé was born with biliary atresia, a chronic, progressive liver disease, which occurs when the liver’s bile ducts don’t develop normally.
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