Spring Hill teenager Alicia Berkey is pretty much your normal teen with one BIG exception. She has end stage lung disease. She is hoping for a double lung transplant to give her a second chance at life. As you would imagine it is an expensive operation and to complicate it all, she has to move to St. Louis and literally just wait for the call. A special fundraiser to help with expenses will be held on Saturday at the Bean Coffee Company in Spring Hill. Twenty percent of all sales from 1:00 to 6:00 will go to assist with transplant related expenses. Local volunteers are raising nearly $100,000.00 for the Children’s Organ Transplant Association, or COTA. They help children and young adults who need a life-saving transplant by providing fundraising assistance and family support. They are the nation’s only fundraising organization solely dedicated to raising life-saving dollars in honor of transplant-needy children and young adults. One hundred percent of each contribution mate to COTA in honor of their patients helps meet transplant-related expenses. COTA’s services are free to all families. Alicia is on the transplant list, waiting for a double lung transplant which will take place at the St. Louis Children’s Hospital. She leaves Monday for St. Louis and will have to remain there up to three months after the transplant.
