Cary teen needs your help for kidney transplant

CARY, NC (WTVD) -- The Children's Organ Transplant Organization is trying to help a Cary teenager afford the gift of a new life.

Lauryn Mulder is about to get a kidney transplant, and while she has her donor all lined up, the costs associated with the transplant are likely to follow her for the rest of her life.

Lauryn has been a dancer since she was 4 years old, and she was a cheerleader at Panther Creek High School, but the power to follow that passion has been put on hold as she awaits a kidney transplant.

Her donor? Her own stepfather.

While Lauryn is looking forward to a new life, with a new kidney, she's going to have to take medication for life, and will probably need another transplant decades down the line, all of which could total about $50,000 - and that's with insurance.

It's why Children's Organ Transplant Association is rallying around Lauryn, helping her to raise the money, while she awaits a new chapter without dialysis.

WANT TO HELP? You can donate to Lauryn's cause here

"It was really hard on my body," she said. "It's hard to go from every day you're dancing to now you're just not doing any physical activity."

"Being able to watch her dance on stage and really just light up the stage ... to see everything crashed into a halt is really challenging for me as a mom," Lauryn's mother, Cris Charbonneau, said.