COTA for Hayden

Our Story

As many of you may already know, our son, Hayden, has been diagnosed with liver cancer. Hayden’s journey began on November 6, 2025, when we took him to the hospital at the request of his primary care physician due to concerns regarding his lack of growth since his previous visit. He was referred to the Close to Home Center for laboratory testing, where we received a call to go to the hospital.

Since that day, our family has faced this challenge together. Fighting, praying, crying, and finding moments of laughter alongside Hayden. We are also the parents of three other children – Irre, Houston, and Iylah – who have had to adjust their daily lives and cope with time spent apart from both their brother and parents during Hayden’s hospital admissions.

We humbly ask for your continued love and prayers as we stand beside Hayden in this fight. We have adopted the phrase #FightLikeHayden because, despite his diagnosis, Hayden continues to show remarkable strength and resilience, often greeting each day with a smile rather than tears. He finds joy in watching Ms. Rachel, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Baby Shark, and vocabularry.

We would like to sincerely thank each of you for your ongoing prayers, encouragement, and care throughout this journey. Hayden has recently moved up on the transplant list, and we are hopeful that a liver match will become available soon. We may receive the call at any time and must be prepared to leave immediately, regardless of the hour.

We will continue to keep everyone informed regarding updates through COTA, as well as share updates and photos here. COTA for Hayden fundraising events will be announced in the near future, and we look forward to sharing that information with you soon.

Thank you again for rallying around Hayden.

#FightLikeHayden

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.