COTA for Team Aaron

Our Story

Aaron’s dad died in 2012 and his mom became a single parent of 2 kids under the age of 3. His older half-brother had a heart transplant 5 years ago and is doing well. Aaron’s last echo was in 2019 and they were told it “looks good” so they weren’t concerned.

March 9th Aaron started showing signs of a cold. A week later we thought he had the flu. The next day he went to the doctor and was given fluids and sent home. The following day he was worse so they went back to the doctor and was sent to the Emergency Room. During the ER visit, they found that Aaron had an enlarged heart and they know it’s something more than the flu. They (Aaron and mom) were Panda’d (by ambulance) to OHSU. Shortly after arriving at OHSU, they were Life Flighted to Seattle Children’s Hospital. They arrived at the hospital on March 20th.

March 22nd the LVAD and RVAD (pumps) were placed in Aaron’s heart and on April 3rd there was a transplant conference. Aaron had been getting some dental work done and it was decided that teeth needed to be removed to reduce the chance of infection. That was done on April 8th.

April 10th Aaron was placed on the transplant list in A-1 position. Nine days later cannulas were replaced for the RVAD because it hadn’t been working properly and on April 21st, Aaron got his heart transplant. He’s been doing so well that he got released from the hospital to stay at the Ronald McDonald House with his mom on May 6th.

They’re hoping to return home before the month of July. Aaron will need to continue going to Seattle for appointments. Their home and family members are about 240 miles from the hospital, and that is where his older sibling has been staying with their maternal grandma, and they’ve been traveling up to visit every 3 weeks.

In addition to the expense of travelling to and from Seattle for check-ups, Aaron is on a lot of medication which is really expensive. Any help that he receives from COTA will help out immensely!

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.