COTA for Ethan's Battle

Our Story

Ethan Spraggs was born April 04, 2003. His parents are Manuel Spraggs and Sheila O’Shea. He also has 3 siblings: Mary, Miah and Aubrey. He was raised in the small town of Matthews, MO. Ethan likes to listen to music, play action-packed video games and prefers computer over any other consoles. Ethan will graduate this spring in May 2021. He would like to attend college and achieve a bachelor’s in computer science, in hopes of one day designing video games for computers.

Ethan was born with what is known in general terms as a Pancake Kidney. Basically, this means that his kidneys formed one flat shaped kidney, located in the lower back region, rather than 2 normal kidneys located in the abdominal area. This is a very rare congenital defect, one of the rarest of all renal ectopias.

In 2016 Ethan was taken to the ER in Sikeston, Mo, where they found out he had a severe kidney infection. They sent him home with antibiotics and to follow up with his pediatrician. Ethan’s pediatrician ran tests and lab work to test for kidney function. After seeing the results, he felt it was in Ethan’s best interest to refer him to Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, MO.

At Children’s Hospital he was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure and would need follow up visits to keep track of Ethan’s deteriorating kidney function. His kidney was failing, and it was just a matter of time before he would need a transplant. Since that time, Ethan has had regular visits with his nephrologist, who has tracked his declining kidney function.

Ethan is now in need of a kidney. He is now active on the transplant list. He is following doctor’s orders and doing what is asked of him in hopes of a call soon.

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 Ethan and help us in fighting Ethan’s Battle.

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.