Hello, and welcome to COTA for Team Eric! Some of you are new to our team and Eric’s journey and some of you have been with us for years, so we wanted to take a moment to update the story and fill in the blanks. Eric was born in 2001 at Dewitt Army Hospital in Fort Belvoir, VA. We were thrilled and couldn’t wait to start the next chapter of our lives. When Eric came home from the hospital, we felt that some things were just “off”, but when we went back to the doctors they told us it was nothing to worry about. That all changed when Eric was just 7 weeks old. It was one week after 9/11 and Dad was at the Pentagon with his Army Unit doing Search and Recovery Efforts; I was just watching the news and thinking Eric was napping too long. That is when I found him, blue in his crib. I called EMS and started CPR. He was stabilized at Dewitt and they said it was probably reflux. Once we were able to get Dad sent from the Pentagon to Dewitt, they loaded him up for transfer to WRAMC for higher level of care since he was just 7 weeks old. Because of post 9/11 security issues we weren’t allowed to ride in the ambulance with him and when we arrived at WRAMC he wasn’t there. He had coded in the ambulance, had to be shacked and intubated, so they diverted to Children’s National. After many long hours, Eric was flown from CNMC to WRAMC where we spent the next few months on and off life support. Eric went into multi-organ failure and thankfully at the time responded to treatments and was able to come home after a long admission. Little did we know that this was the beginning of a roller coaster adventure with the bravest, strongest, most amazing kid ever. When they said for years to accept he wouldn’t walk or talk… he can do both of those just fine! He may fall down a lot but that is a consequence of years of illness. When Eric was first in the PICU at WRAMC we all can only assume his bowel was damaged beyond what we all thought at first. Eric battled years of what was thought to be just constipation, but it is so much more than that. It’s intestinal dysmotility that has led to Intestinal Failure. Malnutrition, malabsorption, gastroparesis and acquired short gut. Eric has had an absolutely amazing team of physicians that has tried for years to keep him as strong as possible. They have sent us to many major medical centers for second and third options. He has been to Nationwide Children’s, Cleveland Clinic, Kennedy Krieger, Johns Hopkins, Baylor University Medical Center, UPMC,  Children’s Hospital in DC, Fairfax Hospital and Georgetown! We have all worked together and tried it all, but we all knew it would culminate in transplant. Now 62 surgeries later and almost 11 years being TPN-Dependent and unable to eat any food, his body is getting tired and worn down. He is down to his last central line access and we have got to get him off of the TPN; this means it’s time for Isolated Bowel Transplant. Eric remains positive and in good spirits. He knows how hard this is going to be, it’s one of the hardest transplants to recover from. He knows he will be in the hospital for many months after he gets his call. We as a family are ready to take on the next steps of transplant life and enjoy as many years as we can get! 

There are so many people who have loved and supported Eric over the years and we know with all of your support he is going to come through to the other side of transplant a new and improved Super Eric! Dad, Mom, Lizzie and of course Eric appreciate all your support as we prepare for the long haul of transplant living.

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.