{"id":14,"date":"2026-05-01T09:44:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T09:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cota1.wpengine.com\/cloningsite\/?page_id=14"},"modified":"2026-05-04T13:45:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T13:45:06","slug":"our-story","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/our-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Lightning has struck in our family yet again; another one of LaShana&#8217;s children have been diagnosed with Cardiomyopathy. Baby Zamari is strong, but he is in need of a new heart. Mari&#8217;s Mom and Dad are currently running two households as at least one parent is required to be no more than five minutes from the hospital. The wonderful medical staff has provided them with an apartment three blocks from the hospital but two hours away from home. As a family unit, the best way forward was to have Sha stay close to the hospital as hubby works while their grandmother cares for their other four children. It&#8217;s been a two-month battle thus far but we&#8217;re just getting started. Donations to COTAforZamariSafari will ease the burden of paying for out-of-pocket co-pays &amp; medical expenses, specialists &amp; advisor fees, therapy sessions for the parents and children, travel needs, and utilities &amp; upkeep in their second home. If you&#8217;re able to give, able to share &#8220;Their Story&#8221;, able to pray, or able to follow their journey through the below website, we&#8217;d greatly appreciate any and all of it \u2764\ufe0f\u200d\ud83e\ude79<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Children\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s services are free to our families, and gifts to COTA are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lightning has struck in our family yet again; another one of LaShana&#8217;s children have been diagnosed with Cardiomyopathy. Baby Zamari is strong, but he is in need of a new heart. Mari&#8217;s Mom and Dad are currently running two households as at least one parent is required to be no more than five minutes from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":89,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Our Story - COTA for Zamari Safari<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lightning has struck in our family yet again; another one of LaShana&#039;s children have been diagnosed with Cardiomyopathy. Baby Zamari is strong, but he is in need of a new heart. Mari&#039;s Mom and Dad are currently running two households as at least one parent is required to be no more than five minutes from the hospital. The wonderful medical staff has provided them with an apartment three blocks from the hospital but two hours away from home. As a family unit, the best way forward was to have Sha stay close to the hospital as hubby works while their grandmother cares for their other four children. It&#039;s been a two-month battle thus far but we&#039;re just getting started. Donations to COTAforZamariSafari will ease the burden of paying for out-of-pocket co-pays &amp; medical expenses, specialists &amp; advisor fees, therapy sessions for the parents and children, travel needs, and utilities &amp; upkeep in their second home. If you&#039;re able to give, able to share &quot;Their Story&quot;, able to pray, or able to follow their journey through the below website, we&#039;d greatly appreciate any and all of it \u2764\ufe0f\u200d\ud83e\ude79\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/our-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Our Story\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lightning has struck in our family yet again; another one of LaShana&#039;s children have been diagnosed with Cardiomyopathy. Baby Zamari is strong, but he is in need of a new heart. Mari&#039;s Mom and Dad are currently running two households as at least one parent is required to be no more than five minutes from the hospital. The wonderful medical staff has provided them with an apartment three blocks from the hospital but two hours away from home. As a family unit, the best way forward was to have Sha stay close to the hospital as hubby works while their grandmother cares for their other four children. It&#039;s been a two-month battle thus far but we&#039;re just getting started. Donations to COTAforZamariSafari will ease the burden of paying for out-of-pocket co-pays &amp; medical expenses, specialists &amp; advisor fees, therapy sessions for the parents and children, travel needs, and utilities &amp; upkeep in their second home. If you&#039;re able to give, able to share &quot;Their Story&quot;, able to pray, or able to follow their journey through the below website, we&#039;d greatly appreciate any and all of it \u2764\ufe0f\u200d\ud83e\ude79\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/our-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"COTA for Zamari Safari\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-04T13:45:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6742\/2026\/04\/Zamari-Guzman-4-scaled-e1776884997141.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1438\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1685\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/our-story\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/our-story\/\",\"name\":\"Our Story - COTA for Zamari Safari\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/our-story\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/our-story\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6742\/2026\/04\/Zamari-Guzman-4-scaled-e1776884997141.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-01T09:44:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-04T13:45:06+00:00\",\"description\":\"Lightning has struck in our family yet again; another one of LaShana's children have been diagnosed with Cardiomyopathy. Baby Zamari is strong, but he is in need of a new heart. Mari's Mom and Dad are currently running two households as at least one parent is required to be no more than five minutes from the hospital. The wonderful medical staff has provided them with an apartment three blocks from the hospital but two hours away from home. As a family unit, the best way forward was to have Sha stay close to the hospital as hubby works while their grandmother cares for their other four children. It's been a two-month battle thus far but we're just getting started. Donations to COTAforZamariSafari will ease the burden of paying for out-of-pocket co-pays & medical expenses, specialists & advisor fees, therapy sessions for the parents and children, travel needs, and utilities & upkeep in their second home. If you're able to give, able to share \\\"Their Story\\\", able to pray, or able to follow their journey through the below website, we'd greatly appreciate any and all of it \u2764\ufe0f\u200d\ud83e\ude79\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/our-story\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/our-story\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/our-story\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6742\/2026\/04\/Zamari-Guzman-4-scaled-e1776884997141.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6742\/2026\/04\/Zamari-Guzman-4-scaled-e1776884997141.jpeg\",\"width\":1438,\"height\":1685},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/our-story\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Our Story\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/\",\"name\":\"COTA for Zamari Safari\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Our Story - COTA for Zamari Safari","description":"Lightning has struck in our family yet again; another one of LaShana's children have been diagnosed with Cardiomyopathy. Baby Zamari is strong, but he is in need of a new heart. Mari's Mom and Dad are currently running two households as at least one parent is required to be no more than five minutes from the hospital. The wonderful medical staff has provided them with an apartment three blocks from the hospital but two hours away from home. As a family unit, the best way forward was to have Sha stay close to the hospital as hubby works while their grandmother cares for their other four children. It's been a two-month battle thus far but we're just getting started. Donations to COTAforZamariSafari will ease the burden of paying for out-of-pocket co-pays & medical expenses, specialists & advisor fees, therapy sessions for the parents and children, travel needs, and utilities & upkeep in their second home. If you're able to give, able to share \"Their Story\", able to pray, or able to follow their journey through the below website, we'd greatly appreciate any and all of it \u2764\ufe0f\u200d\ud83e\ude79","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/our-story\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Our Story","og_description":"Lightning has struck in our family yet again; another one of LaShana's children have been diagnosed with Cardiomyopathy. Baby Zamari is strong, but he is in need of a new heart. Mari's Mom and Dad are currently running two households as at least one parent is required to be no more than five minutes from the hospital. The wonderful medical staff has provided them with an apartment three blocks from the hospital but two hours away from home. As a family unit, the best way forward was to have Sha stay close to the hospital as hubby works while their grandmother cares for their other four children. It's been a two-month battle thus far but we're just getting started. Donations to COTAforZamariSafari will ease the burden of paying for out-of-pocket co-pays & medical expenses, specialists & advisor fees, therapy sessions for the parents and children, travel needs, and utilities & upkeep in their second home. If you're able to give, able to share \"Their Story\", able to pray, or able to follow their journey through the below website, we'd greatly appreciate any and all of it \u2764\ufe0f\u200d\ud83e\ude79","og_url":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/our-story\/","og_site_name":"COTA for Zamari Safari","article_modified_time":"2026-05-04T13:45:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1438,"height":1685,"url":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6742\/2026\/04\/Zamari-Guzman-4-scaled-e1776884997141.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/our-story\/","url":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/our-story\/","name":"Our Story - COTA for Zamari Safari","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/our-story\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/our-story\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6742\/2026\/04\/Zamari-Guzman-4-scaled-e1776884997141.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-05-01T09:44:54+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-04T13:45:06+00:00","description":"Lightning has struck in our family yet again; another one of LaShana's children have been diagnosed with Cardiomyopathy. Baby Zamari is strong, but he is in need of a new heart. Mari's Mom and Dad are currently running two households as at least one parent is required to be no more than five minutes from the hospital. The wonderful medical staff has provided them with an apartment three blocks from the hospital but two hours away from home. As a family unit, the best way forward was to have Sha stay close to the hospital as hubby works while their grandmother cares for their other four children. It's been a two-month battle thus far but we're just getting started. Donations to COTAforZamariSafari will ease the burden of paying for out-of-pocket co-pays & medical expenses, specialists & advisor fees, therapy sessions for the parents and children, travel needs, and utilities & upkeep in their second home. If you're able to give, able to share \"Their Story\", able to pray, or able to follow their journey through the below website, we'd greatly appreciate any and all of it \u2764\ufe0f\u200d\ud83e\ude79","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/our-story\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/our-story\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/our-story\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6742\/2026\/04\/Zamari-Guzman-4-scaled-e1776884997141.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6742\/2026\/04\/Zamari-Guzman-4-scaled-e1776884997141.jpeg","width":1438,"height":1685},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/our-story\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Our Story"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/","name":"COTA for Zamari Safari","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cota.org\/cotaforzamarisafari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}