In April, Kalispell social worker Stephanie Cymbal committed to posting daily TikTok videos, dancing to popular songs, until her 11-year-old daughter, Hattie Adamcyk, received a liver transplant.  

That was more than 130 days ago. 

The videos include guest appearances by her husband, Glacier High School English teacher Chris Adamcyk, their daughter and Hattie’s twin brother, Henry Adamcyk. 

The account, which had about 7,000 followers when she started posting during the Covid-19 pandemic, has grown to more than 72,800 followers, garnering messages, questions, personal stories and encouragement. 

Hattie’s medical troubles began with a persistent cough in December 2024. At first, her family and doctors thought it was something benign, as she didn’t have a fever or other cold symptoms. At 9 years old, Chris and Stephanie didn’t suspect it was anything to be worried about. 

But the cough lingered, becoming so severe that in January 2025 Hattie’s school called to have her picked up after vomiting. 

"... it was the cough that never went away," Stephanie said, sitting with her family around the kitchen table inside their Kalispell home.  

Through it all, Hattie continued dancing at Dance Elements, the studio that had become like a second home since she was 3, eagerly preparing for a competition in February 2025. Hattie learned to hide her coughing fits offstage between performances. Still active in other sports such as gymnastics, Hattie didn’t show any signs of slowing down.  

But the coughing continued. 

After trying antibiotics, inhalers and over-the-counter medicines and finding no relief, Hattie eventually asked to go to the doctor again, a red flag for her parents. 

"The bottom line was — Hattie was a kid that never got sick," Stephanie said. "So, for Hattie to have a cough and complain that she didn't feel well — that was an anomaly for us."   

They scheduled an appointment with Stephanie’s primary care doctor, whom she trusted because of his thoroughness with her own care for multiple sclerosis, and he ordered blood work. They also had her see an ear, nose and throat doctor, who did not find anything that explained the cough, according to Stephanie. 

Stephanie took the call with Hattie’s bloodwork results while backstage at her daughter’s dance recital in April 2025. 

"He said her white blood cell count was really low. He didn't like some things ... let's call hematology," Stephanie said. 

With the hematology appointment scheduled in May 2025, Hattie’s parents searched for answers online and feared leukemia. 

"So, between the two of us, we didn't tell her, but we would cry at night," Stephanie said. 

"We meet with Dr. Brennan at hematology on May 5. She lets us know it's not leukemia, so we had a good deep breath," Chris said. 

Still, Hattie's elevated liver enzymes were concerning enough to recommend an abdominal ultrasound that was done later that month. Chris, Stephanie and Henry attended Hattie’s appointment as a family to hear the results, going in with optimism after leukemia had been ruled out.   

THE DOCTOR told them it appeared Hattie had cirrhosis, advanced scarring of the liver, and ordered an MRI and planned to send a referral to a hospital where Hattie had access to pediatric specialists.  

The family was stunned. 

"We were like, what? Like what does that even mean?" Stephanie said. 

"That's like an alcoholic’s disease," Chris said. 

Dr. Kambiz Etesami, division chief of Abdominal Organ Transplantation and surgical director of Liver Transplantation at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where Hattie is a patient, said cirrhosis occurs when repeated injury to the liver causes scar tissue to build up and distort the organ’s normal structure. Symptoms most often present with the disease include generalized weakness, fatigue and jaundice.  

While cirrhosis is often associated with alcohol use in adults, he said it can have many causes, including autoimmune conditions. However, advanced liver disease severe enough to require a transplant is uncommon in children.   

After the MRI on May 28, 2025, the results were posted on Hattie’s medical portal with a disclaimer that they hadn’t been reviewed yet.  Stephanie couldn’t wait and searched the unfamiliar technical terminology online. The family was jolted again when the radiologist raised the possibility of hepatocellular carcinoma, a form of liver cancer. 

The doctor wanted to refer Hattie to a hospital with the liver pediatric specialists she needed. After conferring with her doctor, Chris and Stephanie selected Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where the family had a support network. Stephanie had two siblings living in California who could put them up during tri-monthly doctor’s appointments and where Hattie could hang out with her favorite cousins. Stephanie’s mother later made the move from New York to California to help care for the family. 

Worried about waiting for the referral process to be completed, the family reached out to friends, who knew pediatricians, for advice. Taking that advice, they decided to fly to Los Angeles and go directly to the emergency room. 

Stephanie drove to Hattie’s school to pick her up the next day. 

"You said, ‘Guess what,’” Hattie said. “I said, ‘We're going to California.’” 

Landing in Los Angeles at 9 a.m. on May 31, 2025, Hattie went to the ER at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and underwent a battery of tests, including an MRI, liver biopsy and endoscopy. 

"Every day was a new test," Stephanie said. 

Liver cancer was ruled out and doctors confirmed cirrhosis with portal hypertension, increased blood pressure in the portal vein. Kambiz said scarring can make it harder for blood to move normally through the liver, leading to portal hypertension and complications such as an enlarged spleen. 

Hattie was discharged June 6, 2025, missing her last week of fourth grade. The next step was to find the cause. Her medical team suspected and confirmed autoimmune hepatitis, a chronic inflammatory disease in which the immune system attacks liver cells. Then in August 2025, she was also diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis, a rare disease that causes inflammation and narrowing of the bile ducts. 

Concerned for their son, the family got genetic testing done.

"No one has it. It's just dumb luck," Stephanie said. 

THE MEDICAL team told the family their daughter qualified for a living donor transplant. She was sick enough to need a new liver, but not high enough on the waiting list to rely on receiving one quickly from a deceased donor. A living donor could also give the family time to prepare and schedule the transplantation surgery. 

Kambiz said living organ donation is possible because the liver can regenerate. A healthy donor can give a portion of their liver and the remaining organ will grow larger over time to meet the body’s needs. Because more people are waiting for organs than available deceased-donor organs, living organ donors can give people another path to getting a transplant, he said. 

Chris thought he might be an obvious donor because he and Hattie shared the same uncommon blood type. Stephanie could not donate because of her multiple sclerosis. 

"We decided, let's be proactive ... let me be a living donor, right? Because we have the same blood type, we're a match," Chris said. 

To be considered as a donor, candidates go through intensive medical testing, imaging, mental health screening and a review of practical issues such as taking time off work and caregiving, according to organdonor.gov. In Hattie’s case, a living donor would also need to travel to California and stay there during and after surgery. 

“So it’s a big ask,” Stephanie said. 

Kambiz said the screening process is intentionally thorough because a living donor is a healthy person undergoing major surgery for someone else’s benefit. The goal is to make sure the donation can be made as safely as possible and that the donor is an appropriate match for the child. 

During the application process, father and daughter talked about what it would be like to share a liver. 

“We talked about having matching scars and how kind of cute that would be. We could both go through this together, both the surgeries and the rehab process,” Chris said. 

This April, Chris was devastated to learn he was rejected as a candidate after doctors found cysts on his bile ducts. 

“That was enough to disqualify me. They weren’t going to take half of my liver and possibly present the problem for Hattie in the future ...” he said. 

Before Hattie started fifth grade at Edgerton Elementary, the family shared her diagnosis with staff who met to create a safety plan for their daughter. The first month of fifth grade was hard for Hattie, who was self-conscious about swelling in her face from steroids. But she had a protective group of friends, her mother said. 

“It was really hard having the big moon face because everybody asked questions. But now it’s pretty good. But just taking my morning meds was really bad,” she said. 

At one point, she was taking 21 medications, which has been reduced to roughly 12, which she stores in a container decorated with Taylor Swift stickers and fuzzy pink collegiate-style letters, spelling out her nickname. 

BEFORE HER daughter needed a transplant, Stephanie said she was not very active on social media. When Chris was ruled out as an organ donor, she wondered whether TikTok could help raise awareness about Hattie’s need for a donor while giving her something fun to focus on as the family waited. 

“I like to dance. I haven’t been on TikTok in a while. This will give me a focus, right? Let’s see what happens,” Stephanie said. 

“I just dance. I just make up stuff and dance,” she said. 

Since the first video, Stephanie said the response has been overwhelming, with people messaging to say they had applied, were getting bloodwork done or had been rejected. 

“There were days where I got 10-15 people [messaging] me, questioning me. I mean, it’s been a lot. It’s been like a second job,” Stephanie said, but said it’s important to her to respond and inform people about living organ donation. 

Stephanie said she knows social media is a hard balance: spreading the word widely enough to find a donor while protecting her daughter’s personal information.  

When asked whether she watches the videos and critiques her mother’s dancing, Hattie gave an amused look: “She’s really cringe.” 

“There you have it ... I’m cringe,” Stephanie said. 

But she keeps dancing for her daughter, committed to the promise that she will keep posting until the family gets the call that Hattie is getting a new liver. 

Despite downplaying her choreography abilities, Stephanie takes adult jazz and hip-hop classes at Dance Elements.  

“I would say most every post is — we’re smiling, having fun. We don’t want this to be a sad thing,” Stephanie said. 

Stephanie said the videos that get the most views are the ones with Chris, who the family agreed is not a dancer. 

“Gotta be a good sport,” Chris said. 

THIS YEAR, Hattie is embarking on a new chapter, starting sixth grade at Kalispell Middle School. She continues to dance and stay active in other sports, wearing a spleen guard as a compromise to quitting. 

“I deep down know we’re definitely going to find a donor for Hattie. It’s just a long process,” Stephanie said.   

For more information on being a living organ donor for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles patients, visit chla.org. Find Stephanie on TikTok @stephanie.is.a.cymbal.  

Reporter Hilary Matheson can be reached at 406-758-4431 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support. 

    Eleven-year-old Hattie Adamcyk of Kalispell hasn't stopped dancing after a cirrhosis diagnosis in 2025. (Courtesy photo)