How to Contact a Transplant Recipient

Each year, the lives of 500,000 Americans are saved and enhanced by organ and tissue donation. These transplant recipients are given a second chance because someone, somewhere chose life and said yes to donation.

Information about organ and tissue donors is confidential. While Donor Alliance maintains the anonymity of our donor families and transplant recipients, Donor Alliance will facilitate the exchange of correspondence if both a donor family and recipient would like to communicate.

If you would like to write to recipients of your loved ones donated organs and/or tissues, all correspondence should be forwarded through Donor Alliance. We are required to screen all correspondence we receive.

If you decide to write to your loved one’s transplant recipient, please review the following guidelines.

  • You may send a letter, card and/or pictures.
  • Provide only general information.
  • Include first names only.
  • Do not use last name, address or phone number when signing card.

A donor family’s correspondence to a transplant recipient may include information about the donor’s:

  • Hobbies, such as sports, favorite things to do, etc.
  • Occupation
  • Family information.
  • Marital status.
  • Number of children, if any.
  • Number of grandchildren, if any.
  • The religion of the recipient is unknown. Please consider this if you choose to include religious references.

To mail your correspondence:

  • Place the letter or card in a blank, unsealed envelope.
  • Include on a separate piece of paper the full name of the organ donor, your full name and your relationship to the donor and the date that the donation occurred.

Enclose the items in another envelope and mail to:

After Care Coordinator
Donor Alliance, Inc.
720 S Colorado Blvd
Suite 800N
Denver, CO 80246

It may take a few weeks for the transplant recipient to receive your correspondence. Donor Alliance reviews the correspondence before forwarding it to the transplant center. The center then forwards the letter to the recipient, ensuring the confidentiality of all parties.

Before contacting your loved one’s transplant recipient, it is important to realize that you may or may not receive a response. While the gratitude of recipients is immeasurable, some recipients have difficult recovery periods. Some recipients are too overwhelmed with emotion to respond.

If you have questions, please call us at 303-329-4747 or 888-868-4747.


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