COTA for Josiah Strong

Our Story

Josiah was born with a series of medical complications affecting his kidneys, bladder, spine, and more. Some of this was discovered prior to birth and some was not uncovered until he was actually born, but this all resulted in him being born in the NICU at Dartmouth Hospital and having his first surgery on the first day he was alive. Most of his first year was spent on various hospital stays to work on his feeding, body chemistry, and numerous other procedures. We’ve lost count at this point of the number of surgeries and procedures he has had. 

Fast forward to 2023 and Josiah has grown into a wonderful young man who makes everyone he meets smile (and usually laugh). He is brave and incredibly strong and if you met him you wouldn’t have any idea of the challenges he faces each and every day. He’s highly responsible and he’s been doing great until a routine appointment this year revealed a severe decline in his kidney function which led to an immediate hospitalization and a diagnosis of end stage kidney failure.

He is now on dialysis 3 times per week at Boston Children’s Hospital while awaiting transplant, which is both unpleasant and severely limits his freedom to do many of the activities he enjoys (but it doesn’t stop him from playing video games). 

On the plus side though, I (dad) have been identified as an excellent match to his needs for a living donor and was recently approved by the donor board at Brigham Hospital, so we are hopefully just a few months and a couple of procedures (we need to address a few other issues to ensure he is 100% ready for the transplant) away from him getting the kidney he needs! Shortly after the transplant, he should be able to return to the activities – and, maybe happiest for him, the diet – that he was enjoying prior to dialysis!

The transplant will enable him to live a wonderful, full life, but it also won’t last forever, and he will need another kidney in the future (maybe more than once) and requires an extensive and strict regimen of medication, checkups, etc., in addition to the various other unrelated challenges he will continue to deal with for the rest of his lifetime. 

When you start talking about transplant, pre & post doctor visits, travel, a lifetime of prescription medicines, not to mention all the other miscellaneous expenses, it is very overwhelming. Thanks to COTA we have a way for family, friends, and others to help us along this journey.

For those of you that want to help thru this trying time, please consider a tax-deductible gift to COTA – ‘Children’s Organ Transplant Association’ in honor of Josiah.  Your gift will assist with a lifetime of transplant-related expenses.

Thank you for taking the time to read Josiah’s story… Josiah, Katherine, Brielle and I, sincerely thank you for all your prayers and support during this trying time.

Love, Daniel

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.