COTA for Ruby Strong

Our Story

Here’s the story of our little gem from the Lord, Ruby Josephine! 

Ruby is our sweet and beautiful 3-year-old. She was diagnosed with a rare condition called Biliary Atresia when she was just 2 months old. Biliary Atresia is when the bile ducts do not form properly and are unable to do their job in draining the liver. She thankfully was able to get an operation done at that time, called the Kasai, to help with the draining of bile, but sadly this procedure is rarely a permanent fix. Though it did help for almost 3 years, her liver was already too damaged and scarred and now she is in need of a new liver! 

In April this year Ruby took a turn for the worse, and she began to become jaundiced very fast. After a few hospitalizations and treatment of what they thought was just an infection, we were sent to Seattle to be evaluated for a liver transplant. As of June 2021, Ruby was placed on the liver transplant list with a score of 1 (lower priority score). We have since had another follow up at Seattle Children’s Hospital and now she’s listed at a 5 (still lower priority but worsening). The score is calculated by bilirubin and albumin levels as well as failure to grow. The doctors are pleased with how well Ruby is doing so far. She thankfully is not appearing sick and is able to live her normal 3-year-old life: starting preschool, playing and learning so much! And we are thankful to God for such a great & caring medical team, both locally and across the state! 

One remarkable feature the Lord designed our bodies with is a regenerable liver! So we are also actively trying to match Ruby with a living donor while we wait for “the call” from the hospital. 

One of our family members already went through the testing, but was unfortunately not a perfect match. Gabriel, (Ruby’s father), will get tested next (as they can only test one person at a time). Ruby is B positive blood type and can receive from any B or O blood types! So we will see what Gabriel’s blood type is and if that’s a match, he will undergo many tests (labs, MRI, EKG, Echo and more) to determine if he can donate part of his liver to Ruby! If she were to receive from a living donor, both the donor and Ruby’s livers would then grow to the perfect size in a matter of weeks. God is so amazing and is perfect in His designs! 

As Ruby has remained healthy during this process, we could not be more grateful! However, her health could change at any moment and/or we could get a call at any time saying a liver is available! This would mean our family would need to immediately move to Seattle, WA, for a while & stop our day-to-day lives to help Ruby adjust medically to a new organ. It’s a scary position to be in, but we are trusting God with all of her and our needs! And that is also why we are partnering with The Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) to raise funds in honor of Ruby Mwamba! It’s a nonprofit organization where 100% of the donations raised in her honor will be available for her ENTIRE lifetime and will assist with transplant-related expenses, such as treatment, diagnosis, travel to and lodging in Seattle. 

Thank you all so much for the support and prayers for our family. We are incredibly blessed and give thanks to God as He prepares us for what’s to come! 

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.