COTA for Fessler Strong

Our Story

Christy Fessler, a professor at Nazareth University in Rochester, NY, was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) at the age of 2. Today at 39, she is in need of lung, kidney and liver transplants (began when she was 37). It’s been quite a journey for Christy, as it is for any CF patient! I’d like to share with you, in her words, her most recent and frightening experience as it relates to her CF. She wrote this during her first original hospitzaliation. 

On October 2, 2023, I drove myself to an appointment with my CF Clinic. I was really sick. They wanted me to go straight to the hospital, but were worried about me driving, so I was driven there. So far, these are very familiar experiences for us. Later that day, however, I apparently crashed. My brain wasn’t getting oxygen. I was intubated, placed on a feeding tube, etc. In the following days, I wasn’t getting better and seemed to be getting worse. I was told that I may not pull through, and if I did, I may not ever leave the hospital.

Eventually, I started to slowly get better. I started to wake up – scared because I couldn’t talk, my hands were in huge mitts and I didn’t know why. But I woke up and saw my brother beside me once, and though I didn’t know why, it was hugely comforting. I started to wake more frequently and my Dad was here. My mitts came off. All my tubes were slowly removed. I started to see visitors from different parts of my life. I spent 22 days in the ICU. While I’m still in the hospital, I have made incredible progress. I have gone from needing 3 people and a huge contraption to even get out of bed … my legs and arms could bear almost no weight … to today, I can stand up from my bed and walk independently, with a walker. I’ve relearned how to swallow. My voice is still very weak because the intubation paralyzed part of my vocal cord. It’s improving, just slowly. While I am so excited to get home, I’m focusing on baby steps, every day, toward independence so that I can do as much as I can when I get there.

What has humbled me is just the outpouring of love I have received. I know now that multiple people who visited before I was really “back” played me some of my beloved music – Elton John, Queen, Bowie, etc. – in the hope that, even if we couldn’t talk, they could at least try to bring that joy to me. I got a literal STACK of cards from my college students – some beautifully hand drawn, all touching. My kindergartens and 1st graders at church made me cards COVERED in glitter. 

Now, as we head into the Fall 2025 my transplant journey has taken me to Pittsburgh where I began living  this past June in an apartment shared by my mother and my Aunt Pam. Each take shifts living with me weeks at a time. When I am not at UMPC for treatments, tests, etc I am looking at the positive of being with my family in a new city. When my body and mind are up for it, I am exploring Pittsburgh to keep my spirits up. As I have partnered with COTA for assistance with transplant-related expenses and now living in Pittsburgh as I await a transplant, this means I am currently tapping into the COTA funding. I’ve had tons of people asking if there’s anything they can do to help. If you want to help, donations of ANY amount to COTA in my honor will help, or please share the link.

The Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) helps children who need a life-saving transplant by providing fundraising assistance and family support. COTA also works with individuals of any age with a single-gene disorder such as Polycystic Kidney Disease, Cystic Fibrosis or Sickle Cell Disease. COTA is the nation’s only fundraising organization solely dedicated to raising life-saving dollars in honor of transplant-needy families. 100% of each contribution made to COTA in honor of our patients helps meet transplant-related expenses. COTA’s services are free of charge and gifts to COTA are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.