Hispanic Heritage:  Juan Perez-Cordero

Hispanic Heritage: Juan Perez-Cordero

Read Spanish version below:  Being informed that you require an organ transplant can be an extremely difficult and traumatic experience for anyone. This can be further complicated if English is not your first language, or if you have a uncertain immigration status....
Hispanic Heritage: Catarino Martinez Story

Hispanic Heritage: Catarino Martinez Story

(Read Spanish version here.) Being informed that you require an organ transplant can be a difficult and traumatic experience for anyone. This can be further complicated if English is not your first language, or if you were not born in the United States. The healthcare...
Trailblazer Profiles in Organ Transplantation

Trailblazer Profiles in Organ Transplantation

Organ transplantation is a highly specialized field of study with an equally small community of doctors, researchers, medical professionals, and activists. Still, there are minority pioneers who are working to not only promote organ donation (while hoping to dispel...
UNOS Honors Lisa Schaffner Posthumously

UNOS Honors Lisa Schaffner Posthumously

“Sometimes you need to walk away from who you are to find who you are to become. That’s where I am.”  — Lisa Schaffner in 2009 about her choice to leave broadcast journalism after over two decades as a news anchor for a position with UNOS. When joining...
Surprising Strangers with a Gift of Life

Surprising Strangers with a Gift of Life

(Above Photo)  Kidney Donor Athletes’ One Kidney Climb.  Twenty-two kidney donors climbed to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to promote living donor organ transplants. Our society is accustomed to complete strangers donating gifts to people they do...
Eight-Year-Old Hannah’s New Lease On Life

Eight-Year-Old Hannah’s New Lease On Life

NFT pediatric patient, Hannah, and her parents speak about her transplant journey during Give Blood, Share Joy blood drive. When Hannah was eight years old, turning nine, she spent almost an entire year in the hospital.  Her health issues started with concerning...
9/11 Fire Chief Gets a New Heart

9/11 Fire Chief Gets a New Heart

On Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, Terry Shaffer was one of the first responders to arrive at Flight 93 crash site in Somerset County, Pennsylvania in a field near Shanksville.  The plane had crashed in Shaffer’s fire district. Tragically, there were no survivors...
Cycling the Distance to Help Save Lives

Cycling the Distance to Help Save Lives

Winner of USA Today’s 2021 Best of Humankind Awards, 66-year-old Mark Scotch, termed the phrase “Organ Trail” to describe his cycling journey he started to raise awareness about living organ donation. Scotch’s fourth trail began in March.  He rode his bicycle...
Give Blood, Share Joy Campaign

Give Blood, Share Joy Campaign

PRESS RELEASE: TEGNA in partnership with Vitalant and the National Foundation for Transplants sponsors Blood Drive MEMPHIS, TN:  The “Give Blood, Share Joy” campaign has been developed by TEGNA Memphis in partnership with the Memphis offices of Vitalant and the...
Hip Hop Legend Receives Heart Transplant

Hip Hop Legend Receives Heart Transplant

Hip Hop may not be your favorite genre of music but for millions of fans worldwide it is their preferred type of music, especially the old-school Hip Hop.  The father of Hip Hop, MC Kurtis Blow, is an organ transplant recipient.  He is also a living legend who became...
4-year-old Addie gets a new heart

4-year-old Addie gets a new heart

A recent story in The Times is capturing the hearts of parents.  It is gut-wrenching to watch a child suffer with a life-threatening illness.  Yet, there are thousands of parents who are faced with that predicament right now.  But this story has a happy ending....
Cait’s Story

Cait’s Story

“My biggest concern was the reimbursement process would be difficult or overly burdensome.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The process was straight forward and easy to follow.  The quick turn around on payments exceeded my expectations. We cannot stress...
Pediatric Transplants:  Looking Back on 2020

Pediatric Transplants: Looking Back on 2020

During Kids Transplant Week, transplant dad and UNOS board member, Joseph Hillenburg, provides an update on his son, Ben, who is lovingly referred to as Mr. Recycled Parts.  He also offers insight into what life was like for transplant families in 2020. During the...
Let the Legacy Live:  Create a Memorial Fund

Let the Legacy Live: Create a Memorial Fund

Losing a loved one is never easy.  Working through grief can be a long, hard process.  To channel their grief, many families chose to honor their loved ones by helping others. “While some people erect plaques, statues or buildings to remember a loved one who has...

2020 Transplants: A Year In Review

2020 was a challenging year for everyone, particularly those who are immunocompromised like the transplant patients served by the National Foundation for Transplants.  Thanks to organ donors, transplant centers, and the generosity of supporters, . Over 190 NFT...
5 Reasons to Make an  End-of-Year Stock Donation

5 Reasons to Make an End-of-Year Stock Donation

Have you ever wondered what’s the financial benefit in donating stocks to charity?  Let’s take the epic year 2020 into consideration.  The year of the life altering, unforgettable COVID-19 pandemic. As the virus spread across the globe, the stock market fell. If you...
During a Pandemic Altruistic Organ Donors Abound

During a Pandemic Altruistic Organ Donors Abound

Another recent report reveals the human spirit of kindness and compassion is alive and thriving.  The number of living organ donors helping strangers continue to grow.  Joe Napsha with the Tribe, a Pennsylvania newspaper, reports on the latest act of donor kindness,...
Lung Transplants Offer Current & Future Hope

Lung Transplants Offer Current & Future Hope

Earlier this year, the National Foundation for Transplants covered the story of the first COVID-19 lung transplant patient, Mayra Ramirez.  Since Mayra’s double lung transplant, there have been five more successful lung transplants performed in the United States and...
A Living Donor Story:  My Sister’s Love

A Living Donor Story: My Sister’s Love

San Anselmo, California resident Missy Schwen Ryan holds four world records.  In 1996, she and her rowing partner won a silver medal during the Olympic games held in Atlanta.  In 2000, they won a bronze medal during games held in Sydney, Australia.  Additionally, they...
Am I Too Old To Be An Organ Donor?

Am I Too Old To Be An Organ Donor?

Jim Taylor, a writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, in his Savvy Senior beat, received a question from a senior citizen, “Am I too old to be an organ donor?” The question came from a senior who said he never thought about becoming an organ donor until his brother...
Celebrating a Second Chance During a Pandemic

Celebrating a Second Chance During a Pandemic

Americans are a resilient group and we love to celebrate important milestones.  Recently, Vanderbilt Health, a transplant center that NFT has worked with for many years, discharged a patient and a celebration was in order.  Lee Foster, after his recent kidney...
The Living Donor Transplant Swap

The Living Donor Transplant Swap

What it is. How to get involved. How to offset expenses. Organ donation from a living donor provides a transplant patient with shorter or no wait time; quicker recovery time; and improved long-term outcomes making living donations the preferred type for donations like...

Gahanna Honors a Teen’s Amazing Gifts

At the age of 13, JaShawn Lemar Scott signed up to be an organ donor.  He’s the son of KeShaunta and Justin Scott.  His mother said JaShawn led a purpose-filled life and had a heart of gold.  Four years after becoming an organ donor, JaShawn’s decision saved five...

Did One Transplant Cure Three Illnesses?

​Al Nykamp, a NFT patient, was diagnosed with three conditions, hemophilia, Hepatitis C, and cancer over his lifetime beginning when he was a newborn.  He shared in an interview in May with Rene Wisely of Michigan Health that being cured of his conditions was...
New CEO: Jared Wall

New CEO: Jared Wall

On Tuesday National Foundation for Transplants announced that Jared Wall is the organization’s new president and chief executive officer. Wall, coming from a senior leadership position with Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, has joined the organization full time at...