The fundraising goal has recently been updated per a conversation between Jude’s family and Rick Lofgren, COTA President & CEO. This letter below from Rick explains the recent change:

Greetings from COTA!

I want to congratulate the COTA for Judes Fight volunteer team for raising funds for the campaign in honor of Jude.

When I set the campaign fundraising goals with all of our families, I try to do so knowing that we want to raise funds for several years, and knowing that many volunteer teams have had more challenges during the pandemic and fundraising these days happens very differently than in the past. With this in mind, for the past 2+ years during the pandemic I have suggested goals to COTA patients that I believe is needed for any patient’s long-term expenses and transplant-related costs. 

For example, most of our patients will have $7,500 to $10,000 in annual co-payments, deductibles, and medications, as well as $10,000 or more of additional costs for clinic visits and a similar amount for travel to the transplant center. This could mean $25,000 to $35,000 for these costs alone for any patient in two years after transplant. Due to the complex medical situation facing Jude, this is a larger than typical patient expense.

In this case I spoke with the family this week and suggested that we raise the goal to better reflect what I believe is the true long-term expense that a patient will incur in the future. Because of this, I have raised the goal for the COTA for Judes Fight campaign from $50,000 to $100,000 to reflect what I believe will be actual costs going forward. 

Please know there are many factors in this and that I bear the responsibility of justifying this to anyone who asks, and am happy to do this as I believe that it is the right thing to do given his current health status.

Thank you for all the work and support you have provided to this point, and please keep Jude and his family in your prayers!