{"id":14,"date":"2024-09-27T18:14:56","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T18:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cota1.wpengine.com\/cloningsite\/?page_id=14"},"modified":"2026-04-13T23:38:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T23:38:41","slug":"our-story","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotafordierks\/our-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Dierks is 17 years old, an age that should be filled with late nights with friends, big dreams for the future, and making memories that last a lifetime. Instead, he\u2019s been facing something far bigger than most teens ever have to: stage four chronic kidney disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite everything, Dierks continues to show incredible strength, resilience, and heart. Through doctor visits, treatments, and the uncertainty that comes with his diagnosis, he\u2019s stayed determined and hopeful for what\u2019s ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, there is a light at the end of this difficult road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dierks is preparing to receive a life-saving kidney transplant, and his donor is his mom, Ashley. In the most selfless act a parent can give, Ashley is stepping forward to give her son a second chance at a healthier, fuller life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As you can imagine, this journey comes with overwhelming emotional and financial challenges. Between medical expenses, time away from work, travel, recovery, and ongoing care, the costs add up quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019re asking for your assistance to help ease the burden on Dierks and his family so they can focus on what truly matters, which is his healing and recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every donation to COTA for Dierks, no matter the size, makes a meaningful difference. If you\u2019re unable to give, sharing this page and keeping Dierks, Ashley,\u00a0Drew, and his entire family\u00a0in your thoughts means just as much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you for being part of Dierks\u2019 journey and helping give him the future he deserves.&nbsp;\ud83d\udc9a <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dierks is 17 years old, an age that should be filled with late nights with friends, big dreams for the future, and making memories that last a lifetime. Instead, he\u2019s been facing something far bigger than most teens ever have to: stage four chronic kidney disease. Despite everything, Dierks continues to show incredible strength, resilience, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":88,"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 v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Our Story - COTA for Dierks<\/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\/cotafordierks\/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=\"Dierks is 17 years old, an age that should be filled with late nights with friends, big dreams for the future, and making memories that last a lifetime. 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