COTA for Jacob's Battle

Our Story

Welcome to our story and Jacob’s journey.

Jacob was born at 36 weeks.  At birth he was diagnosed with ESRD (End Stage Renal Disease) and BPD (Bilateral Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia).  He was immediately flown to the nearest children’s hospital where he was given less than a 5% chance of survival.  Jacob had a long list of other diagnoses and complications in the months that followed, but he beat the odds with lots of prayers and an amazing team at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.  Jacob stayed intubated and sedated for several months in the NICU.  He finally improved enough to start hemodialysis and was released from the hospital in August, 2018.  We were sent home with a MIC-Key button and a peritoneal dialysis catheter in hopes of starting dialysis at home shortly thereafter.

In October of 2018, we began PD (peritoneal dialysis) at home.  We do this seven days a week for ten hours each day.  So far, Jacob is doing great with this treatment.  We are monitored very closely through our Nephrology team.

Jacob is now 18 months old.  He weighs a little over 9 kilos and is approximately 76 centimeters tall.  We are working very hard to meet the requirements of weight and height so that he can be evaluated and hopefully placed on the kidney transplant list.  At that time, I and at least one other person plan to be tested to see if we can possibly be a living donor match.

Jacob is a tough little guy who is battling a hard disease.  He endures multiple daily medications, shots, dialysis, and therapies.  He has lab work at least every other week on average.  He is monitored very closely by his surgeon and our nephrology team as well as specialists in neurology, cardiology, ENT, ophthalmology and genetics.  They have all done a great job and helped to get us this far!

We appreciate all of you who have taken the time to read this, pray for our family and help in any way possible — like donating to COTA in his honor.  Please continue to pray that Jacob stays as healthy as possible.  Please pray also that he is able to meet the requirements to become eligible to be placed on the transplant list soon. 

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.