In 2020 our world was turned upside down. My husband John and I just returned home from our honeymoon. Upon our return, we picked Emreigh and her siblings from their father’s house to see that Emreigh was jaundiced. Her skin and eyes were yellow. I rushed her to the emergency room, and we spent the better part of six hours doing multiple tests, blood work, and scans. With it being a rural community hospital, we were referred to the American Family Children’s Hospital out of Madison, WI. We were told to go home, get some sleep and the next morning we needed to go to Madison for further testing, which is a 2-hour drive from our home. The following morning was chaos as if our little world had come to a screeching halt. We made the drive and upon our arrival we were admitted. That day I will never forget, the doctor came into our room and said, I’m sorry to tell you this, but your daughter is in acute liver failure and will need a lifesaving transplant. Within two days, we had gotten her onto the transplant list. At this point we did not know the cause, or the source, and her condition was worsening by day. If we did not get a liver soon, it would result in her demise. By day four she, my happy, playful, energetic two-year-old, had run out of energy, her spark disappearing, she was fading right before my eyes. Day five things took a turn for the worse, she was not stable enough to have a biopsy performed to see what kind of damage they were looking at. She was put at the top of the transplant list nationwide. The beginning of day six, we were now moved to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, I cuddled Emreigh as she slept, and my phone began to ring. This was the call we were waiting for, they had “The Perfect Liver” for Emreigh, it was ours if I wanted to take it. I found out the organ was coming all the way from California, a whole liver. The team was notified, and they planned for surgery to begin in the morning. Sunday, March 15^th, 2020, Emreigh was given the gift of life, 31 days in the hospital from start to finish. Emreigh had no underlying conditions or medical issues. The day of her transplant, the surgeon opened her abdomen and saw her liver was completely calcified, or rock solid, and if we would have denied the organ, she would not have survived. It was determined then she was in acute liver failure from Adenovirus; it had trapped itself in her liver and killed it from the inside out. Since then, she had an initial rejection, a blood infection, and 2 liver rejections resulting in a minimum of a week stay in the hospital each occurrence. Since her last rejection, Emreigh is stable; she just turned 5 years old. She is the life of the party and as sassy as ever. We are so grateful for the gift of donation that ultimately saved my daughter’s life.

Transplant involves a lifetime of expenses. We have partnered with the Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) for assistance with transplant-related expenses. Please consider donating to COTA in honor of Emreigh.

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.