Supporting Our O, Her Donor, and Their Care Team
If you’re reading this, you know the courageous person at the heart of our story: our own Obryen. She is facing a challenging, yet hopeful, road that requires a life-saving organ transplant.
What you may not realize is that our path to a cure involves a dedicated team of heroes—and a journey across the country.
Why Crowdsourcing is Critical for Our National Effort
Due to the situation, our family must leave our home state for this second transplant and the most competent and experienced medical team is located Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. This means our family must temporarily relocate, and our generous living donor, who has yet to be named, must travel there as well for testing, surgery, and recovery.
The costs of a transplant are immense, but the non-medical expenses of this national effort can be just as crushing:
- Supporting the Donor: An individual who donates a kidney is giving the ultimate gift. Funds are needed to help us cover their travel, and lodging during donation and recovery, and other expenses not covered by the recipient’s insurance. We must ensure their act of generosity does not become a financial hardship.
- Caretaker Costs: A primary caretaker for both individuals who participate in the kidney donation must be folks both pre- and post-transplant. This means lost income and high temporary housing costs in a distant city.
- Cross-Country Travel: From repeated airfare to local transportation for endless appointments, the logistics of receiving care across the nation add up fast.
Our Partnership with COTA
To meet this enormous financial challenge with hope, not debt, we have partnered with the Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA)! COTA is a national non-profit that ensures every dollar you give goes directly to supporting patients like Obryen.
This blog is our way of sharing the raw, honest, and ultimately triumphant journey. Thank you for joining our village and helping us clear the obstacles so that our heroes—patient, donor, and caretaker—can focus entirely on health.
Welcome to COTA for Obryen’s Journey! Let’s get them home, healthy.