Community pulls together to get little girl a liver transplant

When Las Cruces businesswoman Marci Dickerson started the nonprofit Revolution 120 (R-120), she and other organizers of the charitable venture had in mind a vehicle for assisting Las Cruces residents in their times of greatest need. Of all the work the charity has done since its inception, Dickerson said what happened last week exemplifies its purpose.

Three weeks ago, R-120 received a letter from Las Cruces resident Cherie Sisneros, whose infant daughter is on the recipient list for a new liver, but the hospital that is going to perform the transplant is in Salt Lake City, and Sisneros said her greatest need is a reliable vehicle to transport her and her family to new living quarters near the hospital, so that her child can be there when an organ is located.

The transplant team told Sisneros, a single mother of four, that she should plan to be ready for the operation to occur as early as August of this year, which makes getting settled in Salt Lake City reasonably urgent.

Dickerson said donors came through with about $11,000 in a reasonably short time period, but that wasn’t enough to buy a reliable vehicle.

Enter Sisbarro Buick-GMC of Las Cruces. The dealership took $5,000 of the donated funds and gifted a gently used 2010 Chrysler Town and Country minivan, which was delivered June 11 to Cherie Sisneros.

“You should have seen her face,” Dickerson said. “I think everyone there was in tears.”

As a result of the donation, Sisneros now has the means to take 2-year-old Kezia to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City for the transplant.

Dickerson said donated funds also will go to six months of living expenses when the Sisneros family arrives in Salt Lake City.

She said additional large donations to the cause include one year of full automobile insurance from Burke Insurance Group of Las Cruces, $1,500 from The Toy Box Early Learning and Childcare Centers, $1,000 each from Campos School Portraits and the Binns Family Foundation, and new car seats for the children from the J.R. Stewart Foundation.

Dickerson said there will be a car show Saturday, June 20, at The Game 2, 4131 Northrise Dr., beginning at 11 a.m., with all proceeds benefitting the Sisneros family.

“We want to do everything we can for that little girl and her family as they navigate this move and the procedure to save her life,” Dickerson said. “We invite the community to come to the car show to meet the family and make additional donations if they are so inclined.”