This January 2022 five years now post-transplant, all COTA funds raised in honor of Jackie are depleted. We will periodically update as transplant medical care remains complex and demanding.

Jackie Price’s transplant story began on June 21, 2016. She went into complete respiratory failure and the doctors at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Northern Virginia performed an emergency bilateral lung transplant within one week followed by four and half months in the Cardiovascular ICU followed by a long recovery to include multiple hip surgeries and two hip replacements due to damage from the medications to save her. Jackie was on dialysis and placed on a kidney transplant list although her kidneys eventually stabilized and are doing well. Jackie still has cystic fibrosis impacting her sinuses and digestive system but her new lungs, not.

Jackie and her family belong to the Children’s Organ Transplant Association because even with health insurance, the cost of her complex medical regimen remains high. We now know five years later, the out of pocket cost run around $1000 per month. Doctor visits and medication copays, out of pocket maximums, health insurance premiums, and many other hidden costs, and the costs associated with unavoidable hospitalizations live on as Jackie lives on. Gifts are tax deductible and 100% of all contributions in Jackie’s honor assist with transplant-related expenses only. 

Today, Jackie, with her new lungs, cherishes her a long-awaited new life, living again on her own now, working again full-time. She recently flung herself off of Medicare disability wanting to engage her good mind in challenging work. The care of her transplant remains demanding and of course, in Jackie style she negotiates it all with a high spirit. Jackie is a true miracle of medical science.