Update 10/14/22:  After 28 days being active on the transplant list, Gavin received an organ offer on September 14th.  On Thursday, September 15th, Gavin underwent surgery and received his 2nd gift of life.  After his time in the ICU and in-patient care, he was discharged locally to continue his recovery.  For the time being, he remains in St. Louis with his Father at the Mid-American Transplant Family House.  They are hoping to return home to Colorado in November.

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After 7 years post-transplant living with very few issues, Gavin is now battling a tough case of rejection.  After spending 2 weeks in-patient care at Colorado Children’s Hospital, he was transferred to St. Louis Children’s Hospital on July 14th.  There are very few answers to the cause of the rejection, SLCH has been doing a complete work-up, including an ultrasound, a biopsy and blood tests.  As of Friday, July 15th, there were no definitive answers but they were developing a strategy to deal with the rejection.

On Friday, August 19th, Gavin became officially active on the UNOS Transplant List and now awaits the call for a new liver.  With the help of multiple medications, his labs have stabilized, although at an elevated level and are not improving.  He continues to deal with multiple issues, including jaundice, itching, fatigue and malabsorption. 

As of today, he is attending school for about 1 1/2 hours per day, which is good for his education and his emotional health.  We hope that he can continue to be involved with school in-person up until we get the call.

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.