Our Story

Lukas was born on April 28, 2017. The day after he was born, a blood test revealed his kidneys were only functioning at 20%. He was transferred to the NICU at Levine Children’s Hospital on April 30th where he would spend the first seven weeks of his life. It was quickly determined that intervention would be the only way to keep him alive. Luke started dialysis when he was only a week old and had four surgeries in the first month of his life. When peritoneal dialysis didn’t work, he started hemodialysis in June and fortunately his labs began to stabilize. He was discharged from the hospital on June 13th but was required to return three days a week for hemodialysis treatments.
 
In November of 2017, his mom and dad received very encouraging news that Luke’s kidneys were functioning enough for him to grow and thrive without dialysis. While it was understood this was only temporary and that a transplant was inevitable, this was a huge relief to know that Luke could stay home and live a normal life for a while. He did well off dialysis for some time and continued to grow until his doctors determined that he was big enough for surgery in 2019.  
 
Erin was selected to be Luke’s kidney donor.  The surgery was performed in September of 2019 at Levine Children’s Hospital. Luke and Erin were both in the excellent care of their medical teams. Just hours after the surgeries doctors reported that Luke’s kideny was working perfectly!  Luke spent a total of 19 days recovering in the hospital after his surgery.  Jeff was by Luke and Erin’s side every step of their recovery.   
 
Today Luke is a happy, healthy 5 year old who loves baseball and will be starting kindergarten in August.  
 

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.

Lukas Brown

Lancaster, SC

Transplant Type: Kidney

Transplant Status: Transplanted

Goal: $50,000.00

Raised: $49,600 of $50,000 goal

Raised by 162 contributors

Recent Contributions

Mary Ann & Steve Brown

July 11, 2025

Shirley Brown

August 15, 2024

Shirley Brown

May 10, 2024

Shirley Brown

September 10, 2023

Charlene Eid

May 15, 2023

View All »

Photos

Luke 2022

Posted

See All Photos »

Updates

Luke 2022

Posted

Summer 2022

Posted

COTA Update June 2022 Luke continues to thrive!  He continues to be monitored by his amazing dr’s on a monthly basis and we are thrilled that his labs... Continue Reading »

August Update

Posted

Luke’s kidney function is declining and is currently around 13%. Pre-op appointments and surgery have been scheduled for the end of September. We have known since he was... Continue Reading »

Cincinnati Fun- THANK YOU

Posted

A BIG thank you to Robyn, Scott, Stephanie, Steve, and Mary Ann for organizing such an amazing night to celebrate Lukas!  Fun times were had by all and... Continue Reading »

Lukas Kidney Crusaders Cincinnati

Posted

April Update

Posted

  Super Luke turned two!  Luke continues to be a happy, outgoing and energetic toddler. He loves being outside, playing basketball, dancing with his big sister and reading.... Continue Reading »

April 2019

Posted

March Update

Posted

This month flew by. It is hard to believe that Luke will be two years old next month!  Luke is stilling working on gaining back the weight he... Continue Reading »

March 2019

Posted

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Our Story

Lukas was born on April 28, 2017. The day after he was born, a blood test revealed his kidneys were only functioning at 20%. He was transferred to the NICU at Levine Children’s Hospital on April 30th where he would spend the first seven weeks of his life. It was quickly determined that intervention would be the only way to keep him alive. Luke started dialysis when he was only a...

Continue Reading »

Lukas Brown

Lancaster, SC

Transplant Type: Kidney

Transplant Status: Transplanted

Goal: $50,000.00

Raised: $49,600 of $50,000 goal

Raised by 162 contributors

Updates

Luke 2022

Posted

Summer 2022

Posted

COTA Update June 2022 Luke continues to thrive!  He continues to be monitored by his amazing dr’s on a monthly basis and we are thrilled that his labs... Continue Reading »

August Update

Posted

Luke’s kidney function is declining and is currently around 13%. Pre-op appointments and surgery have been scheduled for the end of September. We have known since he was... Continue Reading »

Cincinnati Fun- THANK YOU

Posted

A BIG thank you to Robyn, Scott, Stephanie, Steve, and Mary Ann for organizing such an amazing night to celebrate Lukas!  Fun times were had by all and... Continue Reading »

Lukas Kidney Crusaders Cincinnati

Posted

April Update

Posted

  Super Luke turned two!  Luke continues to be a happy, outgoing and energetic toddler. He loves being outside, playing basketball, dancing with his big sister and reading.... Continue Reading »

April 2019

Posted

March Update

Posted

This month flew by. It is hard to believe that Luke will be two years old next month!  Luke is stilling working on gaining back the weight he... Continue Reading »

March 2019

Posted