Mason's Jar

On April 25, 1984 Lamont Valentin was born with HIV. A series of lung infections as a toddler left him with permanent lung damage, which in the past few years made him very ill. The only treatment option left to him was a lung transplant. Lung and heart transplant guidelines still automatically disqualify people with HIV. Lamont went to Columbia University Medical Center, then several other area hospitals. No New York doctor would put him on the transplant list.On December 3, 2013 while returning from a doctor's visit, Lamont died on a New York City bus. Lamont was survived by his wife, Lan-Anh and son, Mason.

As a child, Lamont was not expected to live very long. Until Mason was born on February 4th, 2012 Lamont only dreamed that he would have a child and family of his own. Since his son's birth, all Lamont cared about was Mason's health, happiness and well-being. We have created Mason's Jar as a way to honor Lamont and to ensure that Mason has the bright future he deserves. A contribution of any size will make a difference in Mason's life and is much appreciated.

To read more about Lamont's fight and cause read the articles below:

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/12/18/hiv-positive-mandeniedlungtransplantinnewyork.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/hiv-transplant-patient-hope-bills-passage/story?id=20904504

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/born-hiv-life-age-29/story?id=21058451