Hello Everyone and thanks to all for the support and donations to COTA in my honor. This support is going to be incredibly helpful over the next few months and years as I continue along my journey towards my Bone Marrow Transplant. We hit our COTA goal of $50,000!!! I could not have done this without the help of my friends and family. I recently returned from a trip to the NIH and it went really well. I had a minor procedure called apheresis where they collect my stem cells and keep them just in case something goes wrong during transplant. This makes me a little more comfortable going into transplant knowing there is a back up. The procedure was not very fun because I had to sit in the same position for 5 hours while they collected the cells they needed. Looking forward, the team at NIH has begun the search for donors and I am hoping to hear from them soon on an official date for transplant. The current estimate is sometime in August but when I hear I will keep you all up to date. I am feeling excited and a little nervous at the same time. Mostly I am excited to get going on the transplant which will have a positive impact on my life

Thanks again,

Colton