COTA for Wyatt's Liver

Our Story

Wyatt was born with Biliary Atresia. As a baby he came home from the hospital and everything started off normal, but we noticed he was getting very jaundice and something just wasn’t right. He was immediately admitted and they sent us to Children’s Mercy in Kansas City where they did the Kasai procedure when he was 5 weeks old to help drain the bile — basically a temporary holdover to try to get him older for transplant.

Wyatt is now almost 14 years old and one of the most positive people I know. He ALWAYS has a smile on his face, even if he’s bleeding and hurt you can bet he’s smiling. He loves riding bikes and motorcycles with his buddies as much as he possibly can. This kid lives life to the absolute fullest and you can bet he’s always got something to say; there’s never a dull moment when you’re with Wyatt and he’s never met a stranger.

Now that he’s gotten older he’s been sick so frequently that it’s become very hard for him. When he’s healthy he’s busy enjoying life, but the amount of times he is sick lately have just been stacking up. He was unable to go to school for about 1 1/2 years; during that time he did homebound. He was hospitalized 9 times in 12 months, which leads us to today.

Currently Wyatt is on the Liver Transplant wait list at St. Louis Children’s Hospital with UNOS “United Network for Organ Sharing”. We know when the time is right we will get that call and are very thankful to be listed and ready to start a new normal for him.

When you start talking about transplant, pre & post doctor visits, travel & lodging, a lifetime of prescription medicines, not to mention all the other misc. expenses, it is very overwhelming. Thanks to COTA we have a way for family, friends, and others to help us along this journey.

For those of you that want to help through this trying time, please consider a gift to COTA – ‘Children’s Organ Transplant Association’ in honor of Wyatt. Your gift will assist with a lifetime of transplant-related expenses.

Thanks to everyone for all the thoughts and prayers and for loving our boy! We love you all.

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.