Our Story

Up until May 2020, Staphon had what we would consider a normal student athlete life. After overcoming several bone breaks, including both wrist and his collarbone, Staphon has always went into overdrive during recovery. Every injury has pushed him to work hard and be better than he was before. Since the age of 13 Staphon has consistently played and trained for basketball both during the regular season and the off-season.

Unfortunately, last year at the age of 17 he was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and was told that he would need a liver transplant within the next year or so. As you can imagine, this was devastating for our entire family, but especially for him. Since then, we’ve spent the last year focusing on quality of life and attempting to keep some sort of normalcy. With the exception of many sick days. Staphon had an excellent Senior Year on the basketball court and was able to finish strong. Although he wasn’t able to participate in all of the Senior activities, he was able to attend prom and Graduation.   

At this point our family is praying for a donor and attempting to keep him focused on playing college basketball after his transplant. We have partnered with the Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) for assistance with transplant-related expenses. Please consider donating to COTA for Staphon.

WATCH: https://youtu.be/AhbnvqaiIvQ

The Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) helps children and young adults who need a life-saving transplant by providing fundraising assistance and family support. COTA is the nation’s only fundraising organization solely dedicated to raising life-saving dollars in honor of transplant-needy children and young adults. 100% of each contribution made to COTA in honor of our patients helps meet transplant-related expenses. COTA’s services are free to our families, and gifts to COTA are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.