On Thursday evening, October 27, Chef Henry Chandler commemorated the 8th anniversary of his successful liver transplant with his annual Liverversary celebration which raised over $36,000 for the Georgia Transplant Foundation. Held upstairs at Henry’s Louisiana Grill, this was the 7th such annual fundraiser held by the Chandler’s in which 100% of the proceeds benefited the Georgia non-profit. To date, Henry’s has raised a total of nearly $140,000 for the organization.
This sold out ticketed event featured lively music, an entertaining live auction with the Chef as auctioneer, delicious Cajun dishes not featured on the regular menu, and their famous “heads or tails” raffle. In addition to the event itself, Chef Henry donated 15% of all food and non-alcoholic beverage proceeds in the restaurant’s main dining room that night to the organization as well.
The event also recognized six other transplant recipients who had received heart, kidney, liver or corneal transplants.
Chef Henry works tirelessly to promote awareness of the need for organ donations, a cause so personally close to him, throughout the year. In 2007 Henry was diagnosed with a liver cancer that proved unresponsive to treatment. It left the Chef, so well known for his love of life, with one option for survival—a liver transplant. After 11 days of waiting for a donor and many prayers from family, friends and restaurant patrons and the abilities of the Piedmont Hospital transplant team, Henry received his successful liver transplant on September 2, 2008.
“When you receive a transplant, the medications alone are around $25,000 a year and must be taken for life,” Chef Henry said. “I have been extremely blessed, but some families can’t afford these and other expenses, like transportation and insurance. The Georgia Transplant Foundation gives financial support to recipients and their families during this difficult time, providing $1.2 million to nearly 1,000 clients in Georgia in 2015. We will continue to do whatever we can to support their mission and want to thank our extended Henry’s family for the most successful Liverversary yet!”