Huntersville, NC – 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 Huntersville, volunteers are raising funds for transplant patients like local teen Mandy Ward. 
      Born on September 15, 1992, Mandy was diagnosed with Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis. October 5, 2007, doctors at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Ohio performed a life-saving liver transplant.  An estimated $50,000 is being raised by Huntersville volunteers.