KETV covered Jaxon’s story and the COTA fundraiser! Please view down below. Copied from the KETV Website
“After their 11-year-old nephew underwent a heart transplant, a south Omaha family is raising money to help with expenses and is raising awareness of the importance of organ donation.”
OMAHA, Neb. —
A South Omaha family works to raise money and awareness after their 11-year nephew undergoes a heart transplant this month.
They held a spaghetti feed and silent auction Sunday to help raise money to cover expenses. They also used it as an opportunity to encourage others to become organ donors.
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In December, 11-year-old Jaxon Hulstine was diagnosed with heart failure. He was in need of a heart transplant and was sent to St. Louis since Omaha doesn’t have a pediatric transplant unit. On Jan. 6, he got his transplant. He now faces a long recovery.
As he works to heal, his family in Omaha works to make a difference locally.
Jaxon’s aunts, April Micklonis and Kylie Sheard, hosted a fundraiser to support Jaxon and his parents. They also handed out cards with QR codes encouraging people to become organ donors and providing a link to do so.
“Just to get the word out about how awesome it is and how it saves lives,” Sheard said.
According to Live On Nebraska, donors saved a record number of lives in 2023 — 323 transplants were made from 103 donors. However, the need for donors is still critical.
In Nebraska, 300 patients are still waiting for transplants.
“We need to push that number higher and higher because there’s too many people on transplant lists that don’t get them,” Micklonis said.
Organ donation is a cause close to her heart, she’s experienced both sides of the organ donation process. She sees the difference a new heart is making for Jaxon and also made the choice to give her own son’s heart to someone in need eight years ago. Her son died at 16 years old.
“You can’t take the organs with you, and if you save one person, it’s not just that one person you’re saving, you’re saving that whole family,” Micklonis said.
She said the dozens of people who attended the fundraiser Sunday showed the impact one donation has. It warmed her heart to see all the support from the community.
“South Omaha is a pretty tight-knit community and as you can see today, we show up for each other and that’s just what we do,” she said.
The money raised at the event will go to help Jaxon’s family.
Sheard said Jaxon’s heart failure diagnosis was sudden, so his parents had to leave work and rush to St. Louis without notice.
“He has four siblings back home here, so between the lodging and the medical expenses,” Sheard said.
While Jaxon’s condition improves each day, his recovery could take up to six months.