AEP Transmission employee makes liver donation

Tony Fosler (center) holds his son, Elias, as his wife, Amber, looks on. AEP employee Zac Netherton (left), Tony’s cousin, donated part of his liver to Elias.

(Story by Tracy K. Warner)

Like many people, Zac Netherton didn’t know it was possible for living people to donate a liver.

But when a family member began spreading word that an infant relative needed a liver transplant, Netherton did some research and learned that it was possible to donate part of his liver and it would re-grow, both for the donor and for the recipient.

Elias Fosler, son of Netherton’s cousin, Tony Fosler, was born with biliary atresia, a pediatric liver disease, and his conditioned worsened after birth. Time was running out.

“I thought if it was possible, I’d feel bad if I didn’t do anything,” said Netherton, an AEP Transmission engineering technician based at the Spy Run Service Center in Fort Wayne, Ind. “I just felt like I was in a good position to do it.”

The Foslers, from Columbus, Ohio, and Netherton traveled to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in late February for the operation. Now 15-months old, Elias is very active and doing great, his mom, Amber Fosler, reports.

“Our families have trouble expressing the gratitude we feel for Zac because it is so overwhelming what he did for us,” she said. “Zac’s selfless gift saved Elias’s life and gave our families hope.”