With the cost of a transplant often exceeding $500,000, many transplant families are unable to shoulder the financial burden of such a procedure.  The Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) is a national charity dedicated to organizing and guiding communities in raising funds for transplant-related expenses.  In Tallmadge, volunteers are raising funds for COTA in honor of transplant patients like local boy, Mark Frick. 

Mark is the son of Terrace Teter and Wayne Frick. On March 28, 2007 Mark was diagnosed with AML Leukemia.  As part of Mark’s cancer treatment, Mark had a bone marrow transplant and his sister Brittani was his donor.  Shortly after the bone marrow transplant, Mark started having breathing issues and was diagnosed with Obliterative Bronchiolitis.  The doctors at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, have recommended a life-saving double lung transplant.  An estimated $50,000 is being raised by Tallmadge volunteers.