Team Rocky Mountain Is Headed to the Transplant Games

Denver Is Hosting the World’s Largest Celebration of Life

From June 18 to 23, 2026, the Mile High City will host the Transplant Games of America, a six-day celebration that brings together transplant recipients, living donors, donor families, those awaiting transplant, medical professionals, caregivers, volunteers, and supporters from across the country and around the world.

It’s part Olympic competition, part reunion, part tribute. And for the first time ever, it’s coming home to Colorado.

“It’s kind of like an Olympic competition where people vie for gold, silver and bronze,” said Mark McIntosh, chair of the 2026 Denver TGA Host Committee and a kidney recipient himself. “We celebrate the donors, the donor families, we celebrate the healthcare community, and then recipients like me, we get to say, ‘thank you,’ and then we all compete.”

What Are the Transplant Games of America?

The Transplant Games of America have been held every two years since 1990, rotating through cities across the country. For more than three decades, the games have served as a living reminder of what donation makes possible. Transplant recipients who once couldn’t walk to the mailbox are now running track, swimming laps, and dancing in ballrooms. Donor families who have carried unimaginable grief find themselves surrounded by the people their loved one helped save.

The 2026 games are expected to draw more than 4,000 athletes and over 8,000 total attendees. More than 3,000 volunteers will help make it all happen across venues throughout Denver.

At its heart, the Transplant Games’ goal is to reinforce that organ, eye, and tissue donation makes a real, lasting difference.

Team Rocky Mountain: Colorado’s Home Team

Team Rocky Mountain is made up of transplant recipients, living donors, donor family members, and supporters from Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. As the host team for the 2026 games, they’ve been building toward this moment for years. In March, the team gathered at Donor Alliance’s Denver office for a flag signing ceremony, with team members, supporters, and Donor Alliance staff coming together to send the team off in style.

The team has a track record worth celebrating. At the 2018 games in Salt Lake City, they brought home 27 gold, 20 silver, and 12 bronze medals. They also participated in setting the Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of solid organ transplant recipients in one place. In 2026, with the games on home turf, there’s another record attempt on the horizon. At the 2022 games in San Diego, they took home 30 medals total, including 15 gold, and finished 9th in the team cup standings.

Andrew Mendard (pictured right)

Meet Andrew Menard: Team Rocky Mountain Captain

In 2012, Andrew was diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD), the same condition his father had battled for 15 years. As his kidney function fell to eight percent and dialysis loomed, a donor was identified. For Andrew, that moment marked the beginning of a new chapter.

Since his transplant, Andrew has channeled that gratitude into advocacy. He volunteers with Donor Alliance and the National Kidney Foundation, serves as a mentor in the American Transplant Foundation’s 1+1=Life program, and competes as both athlete and team manager for Team Rocky Mountain. This year, as team captain, he’ll lead competitors from Colorado, Wyoming and Montana into the Transplant Games.

Fighting for Every Breath: Rima Manomaitis

Rima has spent most of her life fighting for breath. Born with cystic fibrosis, she eventually progressed to end-stage lung disease and received her first double lung transplant in May 2017. It was a hard-won second chance. Then, in late 2024, chronic

rejection began to take that chance away. Her health declined quickly, and on March 24, 2025, she received her second double lung transplant.

This summer, just over a year after her second transplant, Rima will compete in the 5K and Track & Field events at the Transplant Games representing Team Rocky Mountain.

A New Heart, A New Chapter: Heather Smoot

Heather was diagnosed with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in her early twenties, but it was a cardiac arrest at 32 weeks pregnant that truly changed everything. She was clinically gone for 14 minutes before waking up in the ICU with a pacemaker, a defibrillator, and a long road ahead. Decades of failing health and procedures followed, until a transplant became her only option. In April 2024, she received a new heart. Now a mother and a donation advocate, Heather has returned to work and returned to life.

Less than two years after receiving her new heart, Heather will compete in Cornhole at the Transplant Games on Team Rocky Mountain.

How to Get Involved

There are several ways to be part of the 2026 Transplant Games of America! Support Team Rocky Mountain at teamrockymountain.org or donate through Colorado Gives at coloradogives.org. Participate in the Colorado Challenge if you’re a supporter, caregiver, or community member who wants to compete alongside the transplant community. Details and registration are at transplantgamesofamerica.org. More than 3,000 volunteers are needed across six days of events at multiple venues. Details are available at transplantgamesofamerica.org. Come out for the public 5K on June 20 at Auraria Campus and run or walk alongside the transplant community.

And if you haven’t already, the most important thing anyone can do is register as an organ, eye and tissue donor. Visit DonateLifeColorado.org or DonateLifeWyoming.org to add your name to the registry today.

Honor a Donor at the TGA Donor Tribute

Donor Alliance is proud to stand alongside donor families at the 2026 Transplant Games. If your loved one’s gift of donation made someone else’s story possible, we want to help you honor them. Donor family members can reserve their spot at the TGA Donor Tribute and submit photos for the Donor Tribute Slideshow by visiting https://www.donoralliance.org/tgadonortribute/ .

The Transplant Games of America are organized by the Transplant Life Foundation. Donor Alliance is the organ procurement organization serving Colorado and Wyoming and a proud supporter of Team Rocky Mountain and the 2026 Denver games.