{"id":14,"date":"2026-05-28T16:36:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T16:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cota1.wpengine.com\/cloningsite\/?page_id=14"},"modified":"2026-10-14T13:28:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T13:28:54","slug":"our-story","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/our-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Amari isa bright and talented 15-year-old whose life has been shaped by both remarkable strength and a rare medical condition. Despite the challenges he faces, Amari brings joy to those around him through his love of acting, his passion for playing video games with his twin brother, and the time he cherishes with his family. He also has a big dream for his future: <strong>Amari aspires to become a Pediatric Urologist so he can help children who face the same challenges he has bravely endured.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Amari was born with a rare birth defect known as <strong>Posterior Urethral Valve Obstruction with Grade 5 Reflux<\/strong>, which led to <strong>stage 3B\/4 chronic kidney disease<\/strong> and a serious bladder disorder called <strong>Neurogenic Bladder<\/strong>. At just three months old, he underwent surgery to remove his left kidney. Today, although he is not yet on dialysis, he is on the transplant list at <strong>Duke Children\u2019s Hospital<\/strong>, waiting for the chance to receive the second chance at life that a kidney transplant can bring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A <strong>living donor<\/strong> would offer Amari the greatest benefit, providing immediate kidney function and a longer-lasting organ\u2014giving him the opportunity to grow, thrive, and pursue his dream of helping other children as a physician.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you feel moved to do so, and if it is in your heart to consider donating a kidney, Amari and his family would be eternally grateful. To learn more about the process and determine eligibility, please visit:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dukehealth.org\/blog\/becoming-living-donor\">https:\/\/www.dukehealth.org\/blog\/becoming-living-donor<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your kindness, prayers, and consideration mean more than words can express. Thank you for taking the time to read Amari\u2019s story and for any support to COTA for Amari you are able to offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Children\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s services are free to our families, and gifts to COTA are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Amari isa bright and talented 15-year-old whose life has been shaped by both remarkable strength and a rare medical condition. Despite the challenges he faces, Amari brings joy to those around him through his love of acting, his passion for playing video games with his twin brother, and the time he cherishes with his family. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":92,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Our Story - COTA for Amari<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/our-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Our Story\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Amari isa bright and talented 15-year-old whose life has been shaped by both remarkable strength and a rare medical condition. Despite the challenges he faces, Amari brings joy to those around him through his love of acting, his passion for playing video games with his twin brother, and the time he cherishes with his family. [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/our-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"COTA for Amari\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-14T13:28:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6834\/2026\/10\/Amari-Jones-1-scaled.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cota.org\\\/cotaforamari\\\/our-story\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cota.org\\\/cotaforamari\\\/our-story\\\/\",\"name\":\"Our Story - COTA for Amari\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cota.org\\\/cotaforamari\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cota.org\\\/cotaforamari\\\/our-story\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cota.org\\\/cotaforamari\\\/our-story\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cota.org\\\/cotaforamari\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6834\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/Amari-Jones-1-scaled.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-28T16:36:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-14T13:28:54+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cota.org\\\/cotaforamari\\\/our-story\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cota.org\\\/cotaforamari\\\/our-story\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cota.org\\\/cotaforamari\\\/our-story\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cota.org\\\/cotaforamari\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6834\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/Amari-Jones-1-scaled.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cota.org\\\/cotaforamari\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6834\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/Amari-Jones-1-scaled.jpeg\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":2560},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cota.org\\\/cotaforamari\\\/our-story\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cota.org\\\/cotaforamari\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Our Story\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cota.org\\\/cotaforamari\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cota.org\\\/cotaforamari\\\/\",\"name\":\"COTA for Amari\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cota.org\\\/cotaforamari\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Our Story - COTA for Amari","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/our-story\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Our Story","og_description":"Amari isa bright and talented 15-year-old whose life has been shaped by both remarkable strength and a rare medical condition. Despite the challenges he faces, Amari brings joy to those around him through his love of acting, his passion for playing video games with his twin brother, and the time he cherishes with his family. [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/our-story\/","og_site_name":"COTA for Amari","article_modified_time":"2026-10-14T13:28:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2048,"height":2560,"url":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6834\/2026\/10\/Amari-Jones-1-scaled.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/our-story\/","url":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/our-story\/","name":"Our Story - COTA for Amari","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/our-story\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/our-story\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6834\/2026\/10\/Amari-Jones-1-scaled.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-05-28T16:36:52+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-14T13:28:54+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/our-story\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/our-story\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/our-story\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6834\/2026\/10\/Amari-Jones-1-scaled.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6834\/2026\/10\/Amari-Jones-1-scaled.jpeg","width":2048,"height":2560},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/our-story\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Our Story"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/","name":"COTA for Amari","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforamari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}