Published on February 16th, 2008
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.
The Children’s Organ Transplant Association is a national charity based in the USA, that provides fundraising assistance for children needing lifesaving organ, marrow and tissue transplants. COTA’s priority is to ensure that no child or young adult is denied a transplant or excluded from a transplant waiting list due to lack of funds.
A Note from Rick Lofgren at COTA: 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.
Your donations is helping these children:
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.
April 2009 Update on Valery Huttner:
Valery, now nearly 18 months post-transplant, is a two-year-old child from West Columbia, South Carolina, who was successfully transplanted at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
The Huttner family is home and Valery continues to make great progress. Combined with your grant, their volunteers have raised more than $11,000 since they began.
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.
April 2009 Update on Logan:
Logan is doing well, but according to his mom, Helen, a MRI and additional tests results showed that Logan has Double Cortex Syndrome with Missense Mutation.This diagnosis is very rare in males, and means that his brain did not form completely. This has nothing to do with the transplant, and in fact, Logan is doing very well from the kidney transplant with no signs of rejection.
Doctors say if he doesn’t walk by age 5, he never will. The neurologist has him in physical therapy twice each week, as well as speech therapy and swim therapy.
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 have raised a total of $11,333.
