On Tuesday morning, July 30th 2024, Roman’s parents woke up to find that their 7 year old was jaundiced. Roman had been complaining of intermittent abdominal pain, fatigue, and general malaise for the past week or two. His mother immediately took a picture and sent it to their pediatrician who directed them to take Roman to Erlanger Children’s Hospital. Roman was admitted and then within 24 hours flown by Life Force helicopter to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital: he was in acute liver failure.

In the next few days we all watched as he continued to deteriorate. By that weekend he was listed Status 1A for a liver transplant. That Sunday evening the family was notified that a suitable liver was available and by midnight he was in surgery.

Praise the Lord that the surgery was successful! Roman spent another two weeks in the hospital recovering. When he was discharged he spent an additional 3 weeks in Nashville going back and forth to clinic visits. On Wednesday, September 4th 2024, Roman came home!

At 7 years old (8 in October), Roman is the oldest of three boys in the Davidson household. With his brothers Abraham (6) and Atticus (4), Roman spends most of his time traipsing around Hillwood with his brothers, friends, and cousins. Hillwood is our extended family’s small homestead in Rising Fawn, GA, on Lookout Mountain. We live there with my sister’s family, our parents, and some dear friends. And what Roman is going through now is precisely the reason we built our little community to begin with. Tera and I can’t even begin to express our gratitude to the hundreds of people reaching out. Our love goes out to each of you. Thank you.

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.