My name is Carrie Nicholson and I’m 45 years old. My beautiful daughter, Baleigh is graduating from high school this year. Go Bulldogs! After meeting my husband in 2006, we quickly became a family of 3 and officially married in 2015. The most important things in my life are my family, pets, horses and nature. My life’s passion is training and riding my horses.
I’m also living with Cystic Fibrosis (CF). CF is a progressive genetic disease that causes persistent lung infections and limits the ability to breathe over time. People with CF have a defective gene that causes a thick sticky build up of mucus in the lungs, pancreas and other organs. In the lungs the mucus clogs the airways and traps bacteria leading to infections, extensive lung damage, and eventually respiratory failure. The only option at respiratory failure is a lung transplant. That’s where the Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) comes in. COTA helps children and young adults who need a life-saving transplant by providing fundraising assistance and family support.
When I was born, doctors told my parents that I would not survive even one day. Twenty-four hours later, when I was still thriving, they changed their tune to stating that if I continued to live, I would have a very rough childhood and would most likely die before I became a teenager. My little body surpassed all expectations and I had a fairly routine childhood, growing up on the family farm with cows, chickens, horses and a myriad of amazing memories with my family. Despite reaching my teens and beating the odds, the doctors still estimated my life expectancy would be cut short and I would never reach adulthood. Once I became an adult, yet another limitation was placed on me by doctors stating that I would never have children because a pregnancy and birth would kill me. The day my daughter was born, was one of the happiest days of my life…and I’m still here, trying to live every day for my husband and daughter.
So, here we are at the place where I’m in respiratory failure and a lung transplant is the only option for me. My goal is to see my daughter graduate, get married someday and maybe even hear the words “You’re going to be a Grandma”. I see myself mounting one of my beautiful horses and riding once again; a thing which I’ve been unable to do for several years. It will be a pleasure to be able to travel to see friends without the hindrance of my oxygen tank or the quick depletion of all my energy from not being able to breathe.
Being able to simply breathe is something the majority of people take for granted. I can’t wait for the day that I wake from my lung transplant surgery and take the very first deep breathe of my life. It will be the birth of a life I have never known. I’m so excited to just breathe freely.
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.
