Our beloved daughter, Alina Hwang-Liu, passed away in our arms after 3 weeks in the ICU due to a rare genetic disease that causes mitochondrial DNA depletion. She was just 4.5 months old.

Her life was short but filled with love and joy. The time spent with her gentle soul was the happiest time of our lives. To the last day she made connections with everyone she met including the PICU team at Cedars Sinai, who genuinely loved her, cared for her, gave us closure, and helped her pass in peace. For them we will be eternally grateful.

We believe that a meaningful life is composed to two components - internal & external. Internal fulfillment comes from treating the world as your playground - meeting as many people as possible, living the diverse experiences the world has to offer, and enjoying life to the fullest and treasuring our time on this earth. And external fulfillment comes from leaving an impact with your life - touching other people's lives, improving the human condition, and leaving a mark for the betterment of others after your time ends.

Alina touched our lives deeply throughout her short stay here. We believe that it's our job to carry on her legacy so that she can achieve the latter. Her life will continue to have an impact on the world. Our continued focus on this work from this point on, will also give us, her surviving family, the strength to utilize own lives to the fullest.

For that reason, we are hoping to raise funds to support rare genetic & mitochondrial disease research.

This page is set up specifically to support Newcastle University's Wellcome Centre for Mitochondrial Research. Their institution authored the leading publication focused on Alina's specific gene variant, and helped us better understand her condition.

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Additional information from Newcastle University's Wellcome Centre for Mitochondrial Research is below:

The Wellcome Centre for Mitochondrial Research is based within the Medical School of Newcastle University. A huge breadth of research is undertaken within our Centre to address questions regarding mitochondrial disease and dysfunction. With your support we can transform the promise of scientific advances into revolutionary treatments that restore mitochondrial health.

Since mitochondria perform so many critical functions, mitochondrial dysfunction is the root cause of hundreds of other symptoms and diseases, including blindness, epilepsy, dementia and strokes.

Without mitochondrial research, there will never be hope for a cure. Your support will empower our research; helping us go further, faster. It will allow us to break new boundaries and improve quality of life for those patients suffering.

Support mitochondrial research at Newcastle University today.