Megan is now 20 years old! She is taking life slow and easy. She enrolled in and completed a Theatre class at Blue Ridge Community College this spring. She is working toward getting a driver’s license! Her chauffeurs (Mom, Dad, Brother & Grandma really hope she gets it soon!) She is also looking for a full-time job either with kids or animals. 

We are currently going through a sad but positive change with her medical team. Megan’s heart issues came to a head in 2018 when she was 14 years old. Because of her age she was and has been treated by the Pediatric providers at Levine Children’s Hospital. Now she is 20 and must be cared for by the Adult Transplant Team at the Sanger Heart and Vascular Institute. The two teams work together and are a part of the Atrium Health System. We have developed such great trust and friendships with the folks that God used to provide the miracles necessary to save Megan’s life, it is sad to say goodbye to them and begin developing new relationships. But by the grace of God, Megan is still with us and has become a young adult and must be cared for by the experts who care for adults. 

We remain grateful to everyone who continue to support Megan. We know that she will have many challenges ahead of her in life that the funds you help provide will help her overcome. She will be on various medications the remainder of her life to help lessen the possibility of her body rejecting this Heart. Rejections can and do occur and can require additional care, up to an additional heart transplant. The same medications that prevent rejection make her at greater risk of contracting Cancer. These same medicines damage her kidneys and liver. Complications and additional treatments are inevitable.

Megan’s new heart remains strong and healthy – so all of the “big” stuff is great! Because she remains on numerous medications, and her Danon Disease also effects other things, she continues to deal with things like eyesight, muscle fatigue, intellectual functioning, weight gain, type 2 diabetes, and kidney & liver deterioration. She sees so many different medical specialists in Charlotte and at Duke Univ. Eye Center – it is sometime hard to keep up with. Throw in the isolation required throughout Covid and you can well understand that she has really been put through it. But with God’s Grace, and the love and support of family, friends, and community she has kept an amazingly strong spirit.

And just as a reminder, the funds you provide are administered by COTA and the interest and investment returns from those funds help them in their work with other children undergoing organ transplants. So, as you support Megan – you support many other children and families as well.

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.