The Children's Organ Transplant Association continues to work with families who came to the organization since 1986. COTA kids do not ever
get 'too old' for COTA services.
Family Spotlight
A New Jersey COTA Girl is Anxious to Rock and Rock with Her New Liver
At Kayleigh’s 18-month-old well-baby check up, her parents were hit with unexpected news. Her liver was swollen and the pediatrician sent her to a local hospital for an emergency ultrasound. After a week of tests and an invasive liver biopsy, the Petersens were sent to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for further testing. On March 9, 2009, Rich and Mary Petersen heard the devastating news -- Kayleigh was diagnosed with Tyrosinemia Type 1, a fatal genetic disorder that affects one in 100,000 babies.
Instantly, the Petersen’s life turned upside down. Kayleigh was placed on a rare medication; a special formula to replace her milk, and a very strict low-protein, low-fat, low-phenylalanine diet. The hope was the combination of these three treatments would reverse the damage the disorder had done to her liver. It did not work and Kayleigh struggled with severe cirrhosis of the liver. She became extremely malnourished from the diet and needed a liver transplant to survive.
With this reality came the realization that the Petersen family needed financial assistance for Kayleigh’s impending liver transplant and ongoing medical care. They heard about the Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) and decided to seek COTA’s guidance
and support.
“COTA gave us hope by providing us the financial stability we needed for Kayleigh’s medical treatments. With COTA, we have been able to focus our time and energy on Kayleigh’s care instead of on calls with insurance companies trying to figure out if we could afford to save our daughter’s life,” said Rich and Mary. “COTA is about families. COTA not only helps make sure that children needing transplants are given the care they need and deserve, COTA also gives parents support that they need through this time as well.”
On June 8, 2009, Rich and Mary received the call they had been waiting for. They packed their bags and headed to Philadelphia. On June 9th Kayleigh received her new liver … and her second chance at life. Kayleigh was released from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia only 13 days later and spent the summer months of 2009 recovering and regaining her strength.
Aside from a cold or two, and a bout of possible rejection, Kayleigh has made remarkable post-transplant progress.
According to Rich and Mary, “We think two miracles occurred, almost simultaneously, during Kayleigh’s transplant journey. One was Kayleigh’s life-saving liver transplant and the other was becoming a part of the COTA family. COTA lifted the huge financial burden we were facing and allowed light and positive thoughts to shine through. A true miracle.”
Watch out Bruce … There’s a new up-and-coming ‘Boss’ of New Jersey!
Please visit www.cota.org and select “Find a COTA Family” to locate a transplant family in your area needing financial and/or volunteer assistance.
Retirement Relocation: Tips and Tools to Help You Make a Smart Move
For many, retiring to a new location is an exciting adventure and a great way to start a new chapter in life. Here are some tips to help you find and research a new community that meets your budget, and satisfies your wants and needs.
What to Consider
While nine out of 10 U.S. retirees stay where they are when they retire, the other 10% choose to relocate. Whatever your dream retirement location may be, you need to do your homework and learn everything you can about the area you are interested in. Here are some things to consider in helping you get started:
The Three Cs: Also known as crime, climate and cost of living. For most retirees these are high priorities in choosing a retirement location. To research these areas go to bestplaces.net, a fantastic web resource that offers climate profiles, crime statistics, a cost of living calculator and more, and lets you compare cities side-by-side. You can also click on the "Cost of Living" tab, plug in your annual income and find out how much you'll need to maintain your current standard of living. Also see homefair.com.
Taxes: Some states are more tax-friendly than others. If you're planning to move to another state when you retire, you'll want to research your prospective state's personal income taxes, sales taxes, taxes on retirement income, property taxes and inheritance and estate taxes. You can do this at retirementliving.com - click on "Taxes by State."
Healthcare: Does the community you are considering have good medical facilities nearby? Hospitalcompare.hhs.gov and qualitycheck.org are two good websites to help you research this. Also, to search for doctors in your new location who accept Medicare, visit medicare.gov and click on "Facilities & Doctors". Vitals.com is another good resource for researching new doctors. It's also important to keep in mind healthcare costs as they, too, can vary by market. Contact your insurer to research this.
Transportation: If you plan to travel much, or expect frequent visits from your kids or grandkids, convenient access to an airport or train station is a nice advantage. Another consideration is public transportation. Since most retirees give up driving in their 80s, what services will be available? The area aging agency (call 800-677-1116 to get the local number) can help you with this.
Recreation and Work: Depending on your hobbies and interests -- golf, fishing, art, music, continuing education and more -- your retirement destination should meet your needs. Or, if you're interested in occupying your time with full-time or part-time work or by volunteering, what kinds of opportunities are available?
Test the Water
Once you find a location you're interested in, it's wise to make multiple visits at different times of the year so you can get a feel for the seasonal weather changes. It's also prudent to rent for a year before buying a home or making a commitment to a retirement community. You may find that you like the area more as a vacation spot than as a year-round residence.
More Tools
For more help researching a location, contact the prospective city's chamber of commerce. Also see epodunk.com, neighborhoodscout.com and relocateamerica.com -- all excellent resources for learning more about thousands of locations across the country.
If you aren't sure where you want to retire, visit findyourspot.com and take their interactive quiz that poses dozens of questions on your preferences such as climate, recreation, community size and more. It then suggests possible destinations that match your preferences and offers detailed reports on the suggested communities. Also, see greatplacestoretire.com, topretirements.com and consider getting a subscription to "Where to Retire" magazine (wheretoretire.com; 713-974-6903).
Savvy Living is written by Jim Miller, a regular contributor to the NBC Today Show and author of "The Savvy Senior" book. The articles are offered as a helpful and informative service to our friends and may not always reflect this organization's official position on some topics. Jim invites you to send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070.
This article is for information purposes and is not binding tax or legal advice. Please consult with your tax advisor for specific items to discover how they impact your situation.
Service to the community is becoming a mandatory school activity for students nationwide. Many schools sponsor service organizations, such as Key Clubs, whose mission is to provide outreach and support when a need exists.
Some schools choose an organization they will help during the school year. Other schools take recommendations from their students. Still others make less formal decisions based on their community’s needs.
Planning a service project is one way for students to not only help COTA, but to also develop experience that will teach them valuable life skills. This year, we are asking that you nominate the Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) as the charity-of-choice for your school’s fundraising activities. COTA will support your activities and assist by offering ideas and templates. Past school-based fundraisers for COTA have ranged from simple coin collections to community events that draw hundreds of participants.
Here are two good examples from Ohio:
In Columbus -- A student who wanted to find a way to ‘give back’ simply asked her classmates for their spare change – totaling more than $2,000. The money raised helped give hope to a COTA family in the area.
In Ironton -- The high school’s Key Club chose to raise funds for COTA in honor of a classmate who needs a double lung transplant. They brought in the Harlem Wizards for a community basketball game that raised several thousand dollars.
Here are some first steps to get students in your area focused on helping COTA while at the same time building character and leadership skills:
Decide if you want to raise funds to help a family (clicking on the Find a COTA Family button on the COTA website to locate a transplant family who could use your help) or to help COTA continue to provide no-cost services.
Contact COTA to learn more. Simply click here or email MiracleMakerInfo@cota.org to get help organizing a fundraiser at a school in your community.
Whether it is one person or a large group of people -- raising funds for COTA makes a terrific school-based project … all while helping children and young adults receive a second chance at life.
For more ideas on how to coordinate a COTA fundraiser during the school year please contact Doug Lippert, Resource Development Manager, at
or call 800.366.2682, extension 225.
Let us know how you are implementing COTA’s fundraising ideas/tips, or how you are creating your own ways of raising funds for COTA. To share what you are doing as a COTA Miracle Maker, please contact us at 800.366.2682 or log onto www.cota.org and click on the Contact Us link.
Many groups and individuals want to help the Children’s Organ Transplant Association, but do not know where to begin. COTA can help you make fundraising fun … and easy.
COTA’s wristband program is a great example of a way to raise funds and awareness. So how do you get started? Here’s some information about COTA’s wristband program:
Wristbands can be sold at an event or activity (such as a school event or a community festival) or can be sold by a group of people over a period of time to the public.
Wristbands cost 53 cents each with a minimum order quantity of 50, making your minimum investment $26.50.
You set the selling price for the wristbands. Typically wristbands sell for $2 to
$5 each.
Send the proceeds from wristband sales to COTA with a note explaining what you did. We may use you as an example in a future e-newsletter.
Wristbands can be ordered by downloading an order form and sending it with payment for the wristbands to COTA. Download the form by clicking here.
If you would like to purchase COTA wristbands right away or if you would like to consider some other form of fundraising, we are here to help. COTA is committed to helping our Miracle Makers find creative ways to raise funds. For more information about COTA's wristband program and how you can help, please contact Doug Lippert, Resource Development Manager, at
or by calling 800.366.2682 extension 225.
Management of the Funds Raised The Children's Organ Transplant Association does not charge for its services, and provides families and donors the assurance that funds will be used appropriately.
At Kayleigh’s 18-month-old well-baby check up, her parents were hit with unexpected news. Her liver was swollen and the pediatrician sent her to a local hospital for an emergency ultrasound. After a week of tests and an invasive liver biopsy, the Petersens were sent to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for further testing. On March 9, 2009, Rich and Mary Petersen heard the devastating news -- Kayleigh was diagnosed with Tyrosinemia Type 1, a fatal genetic disorder that affects one in 100,000 babies.
Many groups and individuals want to help the Children’s Organ Transplant Association, but do not know where to begin. COTA can help you make fundraising fun … and easy.
