Our beautiful daughter Lauren was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome in October 2008, which means her left ventricle wasn’t big enough to pump oxygen to her body. So, she had a series of three heart surgeries that changed the way her heart worked. Her right ventricle has been pumping blood to her body since her first heart surgery at only four days old. 

Lauren has been heart stable for nine years and then, on April 15, 2021, she had a heart attack due to a blood clot in her aorta. Doctors aren’t sure why, it’s sometimes just an unfortunate side complication of HLHS. This heart attack has caused enough heart damage that her single ventricle heart will not fully recover and she’ll need a heart transplant. In the meantime, she has a Heartmate 3 VAD (ventricular assist device) installed to pump blood for her injured heart and, thankfully, she is allowed to go home with it soon. We are still in the CICU, but we hope to be transferred to the regular hospital floor soon. They expect to list her for a heart soon and don’t think she’ll wait long for the gift of a new heart, maybe as little as a month or two. 

The social worker here at Cincinnati Children’s told us about COTA after we arrived. The Children’s Organ Transplant Association will help us fundraise and also supply a website where we can add updates about Lauren and 100% of any donated funds will be used for transplant-related expenses. We’re still working on adding to this website. 

A lot of family, friends, and even strangers have asked us if we need anything and it’s so hard to answer that question, but we know everyone would like to help somehow. People are so good and wonderful! If you’re interested, you can make a donation, which is tax deductible as allowed by law, and COTA will make sure gifts are used to assist with transplant-related expenses for years to come. 

It’s been a rough few weeks with Dan and I taking turns staying with Lauren in the CICU so she isn’t alone, but also trying to be there for our other daughter, Abby, too. My Mom has been at the hospital to help some and Dan’s sister has helped with Abby at home. We are so grateful for all the assistance, prayers, and support we’ve already received from family and friends. We couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you so much! We will all get Lauren through this together so she can celebrate her 13th birthday this October!

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.