Hey y’all so I’m Jahkari and I was born on January 17, 2002, in Norfolk, Virginia, to my wonderful mother Machelle Wilson. Without getting too personal (because I am writing a book about my life) I do wanna give some background information on who I am and how I got to be in the situation that I’m currently in. So when I was 5 years old my mom got severely sick and she had an aneurism on her brain (that required surgery) and a stroke at the exact.. same.. time! With her having fallen ill I had to then move in with my Aunt and Uncle and their 2 kids. I was with them a total of 4 to 5 years. Let’s just be honest here, the time spent at that residence was a living hell for me only to be in single digits (age wise). I was abused by my uncle mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically! His wife didn’t make the situation any better for me and in fact came into agreement with everything he did and was doing at the time. She seemed to have an attitude problem and could care less about a lot of things. (Remember this is what I’m witnessing and experiencing, and this is what it looks like from my POV at that point and time). But I can say she was the lesser of the evil that was her husband, so I naturally gravitated more towards her because she wasn’t the one doing the heavy physical abuse, although she abused me with her words, but it was hardly ever physical coming from her! This entire time I was just wishing I lived back with my mom because at that point I didn’t know why I was living with them. I never knew my mom got so sick because my little mind wouldn’t be able to even grasp that concept. But enough for that I’m saving a lot of details for my book that I’m writing, but that’s just a little something so people can see where it all started… 

Now let’s fast forward to why I need a transplant. In April 2021 I was 19 years old in my senior year of high school. Keep in mind that I was NINETEEN YEARS OLD when this sickness struck my body. While working at Red Lobster as a ‘To-Go Host’ I used to fall asleep on the job — not purposely, but because I was sick and didn’t even know it. So, one of my uncles passed away and I was assigned to sing at his funeral and I did so, but it wasn’t my best because I was getting sicker and sicker by the day. So fast forward my sickness is almost peak level. On April 24, 2021, I was admitted to TidalHealth hospital in Salisbury, Maryland. There I found out later that my sugar levels were so high they reached almost 2000. 1975 to be exact. Let’s be honest… I’m supposed to be dead right now…but the Lord said it’s not my time yet. Since my levels were so high, 95% of my small intestine became necrotic and died. Then I was diagnosed with “Severe Bowel Ischemia” and since they had to take out so much I’m diagnosed with ‘SBS’ or “Short Bowel Syndrome”. As you can see, if you look closely at my neck I have a scar that I’ll have forever from when I had a tracheostomy! They had to put me on vasso-pressaors to get blood flowing and my toes turned into gangrene and then hard necrotic tissue. I later had surgery a year later to remove the dead skin only to find out there was fresh new pink skin underneath the dead. I had severe kidney failure and was on dialysis 3 to 4 times a week for 4 hours a day. I had to go through speech therapy, small PT & OT sessions. All the nurses there love me to death, and we formed a very close bond to the point now I go back and see them and thank them for all they did and put up with because at times I was a challenge, haha. I underwent multiple surgeries and my total hospital stay was 5 months. Mind you, I didn’t even get to graduate with my class and I ended up graduating a year after and had to make up 2 classes. I had to go to rehab to learn how to walk and be mobile again. I did so well in rehab I was discharged in one month’s time. I left on a walker and graduated to a cane almost a year out, then graduated to walking with nothing. GOD IS AMAZING AND HE’S A HEALER, AMEN!!! 

Also, I’ve had very bad and serious fungal infections in my bloodstream after discharge. Infections such as yeast and Candidemia from the TPN just to name a few. But my mom was with me through it all and she never left my side. Times I contemplated my life and suicide, she calmed me down and always reminded me that though I’ve been through a lot… more than the average teen… God still has a plan and a will for me. In fact, a nurse by the name of Linda in the ICU Department where I spent the majority of my stay reminds me of this every time I go back to visit. But that’s enough of that because just typing this part out makes me wanna cry sooo…

So here I am now dealing with MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC, trying to get a transplant, but I live almost 3 hours away from the hospital. Also, the hospital prefers that transplant candidates live within 1 hour from the hospital. It’s hard for me and my mom to make constant trips over the Chesapeake Bay bridge to my appointments. Especially since we don’t have a lot of money… but what we do have is FAITH and we trust that God will put the right people in our corner and space. As you know transplant evaluations and the transplant itself is a very long, tough journey and it’s taken me a lot for Georgetown to even get my name in their system. So this is all I’m gonna say because like I said I wanna save more grave details for my book that I’m writing. So if you could be a blessing to COTA in honor of me and my mom, my prayer to God is that He blesses you x10 for your generosity. Anything helps. Thank You and God Bless you!!

Fast forward… through everything… I fell in love with music and music became my escape. It became so much of my escape that me and music became one. We became one so much that I learned how to sing and sing very well. Im still perfecting my gift now because it’s my passion. I loved Michael Jackson, Beyonce, Chris brown, and many others. It’s very important to know that I no longer listen to these artists now because now I try to be very conscious of what I feed my spirit and what I put in my ear gates and, we’ll get into that in a little bit… But those artists really started my love for music. Listening to Michael Jackson really made me take off with the desire to sing and learn more about music. My vocal range is from (F#5-G5) which is great for a male, it signifies that my vocal range is very wide and long! I can do most things from rifts to runs, growls and squalls (heavy in the gospel music industry), and just amazing vocal acrobatics. I learned how to sing and do all these things on my own with the help of the Lord Jesus Christ! Listening to Kierra Sheard-Kelly, Dawkins & Dawkins, and The Clark Sisters really helped me even more…

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.