COTA, the Children's Organ Transplant Association is a national charity that provides fundraising assistance for children needing life-saving transplants and promotes organ, marrow and tissue donation. COTA's priority is to assure that no child or young adult is denied a transplant or excluded from a transplant waiting list due to lack of funds.

click on the logo above to transfer to COTA's own web site.

"As the lucky guy who has the wonderful opportunity to call these families to share the great news about the grants you have given, I get to hear the excitement in their voices and can tell you that I can sense the tremendous relief they have when they get the news.  What a pleasure for me to get to play “Santa Claus” every once in-a-while!"

Rick Lofgren, CFRE, President, COTA

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COTA has assisted more than 850 families with fundraising to meet transplant-related expenses…things not covered by insurance - from almost every state in the United States and every economic situation. They guide the family and their volunteers through every step including: organizing and training the campaign committee, planning successful events and activities, working with the media and finding multiple sources of funding.		COTA's goals are to meet the basic financial need of all new patients assist 2,500 new families by initiating patient fundraising campaigns generate at least $50,000 for each patient’s benefit create state-of-the-art website resources to benefit patient families, volunteers, transplant professionals and contributors manage relationships with key persons at the largest pediatric transplant centers. work to change organ donation laws work to increase the numbers of living donors.

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The Children's Organ Transplant Association has 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status to aid local campaigns in soliciting funds and all contributions are fully deductible as allowable by law for income tax purposes.

We are very pleased to announce that a $15,000 donation to the Children's Organ Transplant Association (COTA) by The PEACE Fund will help three young children in their quest to live long, healthy and fulfilling lives.

When asked "Why COTA?" Adrian's response was:

"Because children like Ellise, Elijah and Victoria are what The PEACE Fund is all about. Each is a young child, living in very difficult circumstances. Each one is battling a life threatening disease that is curable - but that isn't going to happen without money. The PEACE Fund can help with that. Our efforts are all about raising funds so that the Ellise's, Elijah's and Victoria's of this world can have a real future that they can look forward to. And every time that someone bids on one of our auction items, or donates in other ways, these children's lives get that little bit easier..."

The PEACE Fund's donation of $15,000 will be distributed evenly amongst the three candidates chosen for assistance, and our hope is that by contributing to their fundraising drives, we will not only aid their efforts, but we will also inspire others to help these children and the COTA foundation in the future.

If you are interested in assisting Ellise, Elijah and Victoria and the many other children like them, why not CLICK HERE and pay a visit the COTA website.

"We are truly grateful for this generous donation from Adrian Paul and the PEACE Fund's staff and donors," added COTA Board Chairman Tony Paganelli. "This wonderful gift will be used to benefit three of our patients who have urgent transplant and post-transplant care needs, and who now have a second chance at life."

February 2008, The PEACE Fund donates a further $10,000

In early February, The PEACE Fund was able to make another $10,000 donation to the Children's Organ Transplant Association. This brings the total of the Fund's involvement over the past three years to $40,000. This new donation will help two more children's fundraising efforts for life-saving organ donations and affiliated expenses.

Valery Huttner

Valerie, a ten-month-old child from West Columbia, South Carolina, was successfully transplanted on December 3, 2007 – another Thanksgiving/Christmas blessing! Valerie's grandmother was her partial-liver donor at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Valerie is still in the hospital with follow-up care, but continues to make great progress. Speaking with her grandmother and mom, they said they are all doing well, but are looking forward to returning home in the coming months.

Their volunteers began raising funds, and were able to bring in more than $4,100 since late October, but with Grandma (one of the key volunteers) becoming the donor, many of the extended family members spent more time at the hospital than in their hometown raising funds. The family has bills of more than $5,000 to this point, and can expect thousands more in the future.

Logan Bierlein-Tyler

Born on September 11, 2004, Logan was diagnosed with End Stage Renal Disease. He underwent a life-saving liver-kidney transplant on November 28, 2007 - quite the Thanksgiving blessing for him and his mom! Logan and his mother were at the Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, for over three months following his surgery, until they returned home to Montana on February 11, 2008.

Logan's mother said they are doing well, but without a father actively in the picture, this family is living on less than $700 from Social Security, as Logan's mother cannot go back to work until Logan resumes eating without a feeding tube, and that may take several more weeks…or months. The family has had a difficult time raising funds - at the time Logan and his mom went to Salt Lake City for the surgery, only $2,150 had been raised toward the $30,000 cost of the operation. The donation from The PEACE Fund will provide a significant jump in fundraising for Logan, his mother, and the volunteers working on their behalf.

Easton Blanchard

Easton is still awaiting his life-saving small bowel transplant at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.  His volunteers did not get off to a good start until December (they began in September), but they have come on strong and have nearly met his goal of $35,000 following a couple of successful events in February and March. 

Joshua Ray

Joshua is a 18-month-old baby from Smithfield, North Carolina who had his life-saving liver transplant at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina on September 10, 2007.  His volunteers have stepped up again and have now raised more than $22,000 and his family still has significant bills following his successful transplant.  He continues to experience health issues.

MAY 2008 - How The PEACE Fund donations have been used.

In February this year The PEACE Fund made a further donation to COTA.

We have received an update from Rick Lofgren, the President of COTA, on the children The PEACE Fund have been supporting and we have pleasure in including this in full below.

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"Thank you again for the wonderful $10,000 grant you sent from The PEACE Fund this spring!  As it has been a few months since that grant, I wanted to provide additional detail as to where and how the grant has been used for our patients benefit. 

One of the things I always try to note with these updates with is that some of our families subsist with incomes of less than $15,000 annually.  With that, a $500 mortgage or rent payment may be such an insurmountable obstacle that it completely throws the family unit into chaos.  Sadly, too many of our children live in a single parent household, and that usually means a mother is caring for one or more children, without the assistance of a supportive and involved husband.

Because of this balancing act between being both a mother/caretaker and a provider, an amount you and I might think is insignificant may be life-changing to these families.  And with the additional trauma of an incredible medical crisis like dialysis or a transplant, sometimes the smallest difference can help make the situation much more livable – especially when financial concerns are removed and the parent can focus on their child’s health.

Here is an update on these children:

LOGAN BEIRLIEN TYLER:
Logan is doing very well, and his mom contacted us recently to say thanks for the timely and generous grant as they were having some tough times with day-to-day expenses upon returning home for the first time in more than three months in February.  Helen said they are doing well, but without a father in the picture, this family was living on less than $700 each month (from Social Security) as mom could not work until Logan resumed eating without a feeding tube, and that happened for the first time in late February.  Logan is now able to attend pre-school, and his mom is able to work part-time again to help the family with living expenses. Thanks in large part to your grant, the family and volunteers are closing in on the $10,000 mark. 

VALERY HUTTNER:
Valery, now six months post-transplant, is a year-old child from West Columbia, South Carolina, was successfully transplanted at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago.  The Huttner family is now home and she continues to make great progress.  Combined with your grant, their volunteers began raising funds, and have raised more than $10,000 since they began, and the PEACE Fund grant helped spur their volunteers on to do more for her benefit. 

SOPHIA BOYER:
Sophia was successfully transplanted on Christmas Eve 2006 and was doing well until a recent problem (this April) with a portal vein (the main vein going into her liver).  She was admitted to the hospital and has been regaining strength as the doctor’s work to correct the problem.  Her mom spoke with one of our staff this week and said they have re-listed Sophia as the doctors are concerned that her liver is failing.  Her fundraising concluded last summer, and they raised a little over $31,000, including your gift and our challenge grant.  Following this recent scare, the family’s volunteers have begun fundraising on a small scale just in case it may be needed in the near future. 

VICTORIA ROBERTS:
Jackie Tate spoke with Chuck (dad) again in April and noted that Victoria’s numbers keep getting better and better and they are still hopeful that someday they’ll be able to give this money (nearly $360,000 raised) to another child.  The last conversation we had was that there was no indication that she was ill and the leukemia is gone.

ELIJAH VANG:
Nothing new since last April when Elijah’s mom said he was to return to school this past fall and was a “normal kid” -- just what we hope happens with all our children.  His campaign volunteers raised more than $16,000 for his care.

ELLISE JONES:
I spoke with Ellise’s mom, Brandy, last June after Ellise was successfully transplanted and worked on a couple of minor issues for her that kept her at the hospital in Cincinnati for an extended period (more than a month).  Brandy and Jackie speak occasionally about reimbursement questions, but all seems quiet (a very good thing!) at the Jones home, and Ellise should be completing the fourth grade now.  Ellise’s volunteers raised nearly $29,000. 

NICKOLAS SHEEDER:
 Nickolas’s family moved from Texas to Colorado due to his dad’s work situation earlier this year.  They concluded fundraising (less than $7,500) and are very pleased with their success – thanks in large part to the PEACE Fund.  Incidentally, their lead volunteer told me they were set to do a number of new fundraisers, but mom and dad felt they were ‘covered’ and asked everyone to stop.  

Thank you again for this wonderful grant."

Rick Lofgren, CFRE
President, Children’s Organ Transplant Association
Giving Hope … Making Miracles