COTA for Kai's Journey

Our Story

Kai has been on dialysis since March 2024 and has been approved to be back on the active kidney list at Mayo Clinic in Phoenix Arizona.

Kai’s kidney journey has had many twists and turns. In August of 2020 we received the call we had been waiting for that a crossmatch for a new kidney had been found. Unfortunately, this kidney transplant was unsuccessful before Kai had a chance to leave the hospital. Thankfully about 3 weeks later Kai was discharged from the hospital and we returned home to our small town.

Consequently, shortly after me and Kai relocated to be closer to receive quality medical care because Kai’s quality of life started to deteriorate, and we often found needing more medical care than what was provided locally.

Thankfully while we sought out more permanent housing options in Denver we stayed at Brent’s Place and Ronald McDonald’s for a few months. At that time, Kai had several surgeries to help increase his quality of life. Several months had passed and finally Kai was able to be placed on the active kidney list.

On June 25, 2022, Kai received the call for a new start in life, a potential kidney was found! Ten days later Kai is still in the hospital with complications relating to the kidney transplant. There are treatments the medical staff are completing in hopes to increase the opportunity for Kai to have a healthy life.

Kai continues to stay positive and is still working on reaching his goals in life. Kai values education and working hard to achieve his best life.  Kai is a lovely young man that just wants to have a chance at life.  He wants to get a job once he completes his education and wants to go to Disney Land in California once he is healthy.

Please keep Kai in prayer! If you can give financially to COTA in honor of Kai to assist with a lifetime of transplant-related expenses, this will be greatly appreciated.

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.