SCHENECTADY BOY, 14, 'SERIOUS' AFTER LIVER TRANSPLANT.(Local)

A city boy got some important help in his lifelong struggle against a devastating liver disease this week.

Jason Schmidt, 14, had a liver transplant operation Monday in Children's Hospital in Philadelphia. His condition late Thursday was listed as serious.

"He is doing pretty well - little by little, they are removing tubes and machines," said his mother, Christine, in an interview from the hospital in Philadelphia.

Hospital officials said the operation lasted 14 hours.

Schmidt's grandmother, Viola Boggus, said her grandson spent most of the first two years of his life in the hospital. Four or five years ago, she said, his jugular vein was …