With the cost of a transplant often exceeding $500,000, many transplant patients are unable to shoulder the financial burden of such a procedure. The Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) is a national charity dedicated to organizing and guiding communities in raising funds for transplant-needy patients. In Menomonee Falls, volunteers are raising funds for transplant patients like local baby Parker Scaife.

Born on November 11, 2008, Parker was diagnosed with End Stage Renal Failure, and doctors at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.  Parker spent the first 128 days of his life in the NICU at childrens where the doctors and nurses got him ready to go home.  He was discharged from the NICU on March 19, 2009 and has been home since.  He is currently on a home dialysis treatment called peritoneal dialysis.  This will continue to take the place of his kidney function until he has reached a size that is appriopriate for transplant.   An estimated $75,000 is being raised by Menomonee Falls volunteers.