COTA for Team Khloe

Our Story

Khloe was born October 8, 2011, and had a very rough start. At 3 days old she started getting daily blood draws to monitor her bilirubin levels (this lasted until January). In December she was taken off breast milk and put on formula because they suspected her jaundice to be from the breast milk. After having complications that led to us being sent to the ER and after being hospitalized for a couple days and lots of tests, she was diagnosed with Biliary Atresia on January 13th. January 19, 2012, at 3 1/2 months old she underwent a risky surgery called the Kasai. We were in the hospital for a short period before being sent home to our new normal. Khloe’s first year was very busy, confusing and stressful as we were in and out of the hospital just about every month from her getting infections and getting very sick from the littlest thing. It all seemed very unreal for the longest time, like we were in a movie. After her one year surgery anniversary, things started calming down and she leveled out to be stable. She goes to 2 different GI’s. One up here in Akron and one in Cincinnati. The one in Cincinnati will be doing her transplant when the time comes. We go and see a GI every month, unless there in a concern and then we go sooner. We had a scare in the summer of 2013, when she started having unstable labs and just wasn’t the Khloe we know. We went for a transplant evaluation and she was deemed not bad enough to be high up on the list. After she was listed she started to improve and go back to her normal. After that point, she has been stable and done wonderfully 99.9% of the time. We have had little bumps, but nothing that needed hospitalized for. In the fall of 2020, she was found to be having issues that are only seen by MRI and Ultrasound, because of this she went for the transplant evaluation where she was approved and again placed on the list. This time they will be asking for extra points to move her further up the list to help her get the call sooner. Once she gets the transplant we will be living in Cincinnati for at least 2 months until she is stable enough to come home, after we come home it will be lots of doctor visits to continue to monitor her liver levels to make sure she doesn’t have any infections or rejection in her new liver. We have partnered with the Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) for assistance with transplant-related expenses. Please donate to COTA in honor of Khloe by clicking the GIVE NOW button.

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.