Rhonda

When she was 17 years old, Rhonda, from Douglas, Wyoming, was diagnosed with severe juvenile diabetes. In her 30s, as her kidneys began to fail, she was placed on dialysis. Then, after waiting 18 months, Rhonda received the life-changing call she had been hoping for – someone she didn’t even know had made the generous […]

Vienna

Ten-year-old Vienna is a bubbly, outgoing little girl. She’s spunky – a trait which possibly comes from the fact that she’s a survivor. When Vienna was an infant, her parents were told she suffered from a rare liver disease in which her bile ducts didn’t form properly and that she’d need a liver transplant in […]

Jeff

Jeff considers organ donors and their families heroes. “They allow us to thrive in all of our roles in life, instead of just survive,” he said. Jeff knows this to be true because he has received two kidneys in his life – one from a 23-year-old man who died in a car accident, and the […]

Linda

Linda is one lucky grandma because she gets to care for her two grandsons on a regular basis – grandsons she never would have met had it not been for a successful liver transplant in 2011. She certainly never expected her life to take the turn it did in December of 2010 when her eyes […]

Kelsi

Kelsi was 23 when doctors diagnosed her with adult idiopathic scoliosis and told her she’d eventually lose the ability to walk.  Surgery was her only chance to live a normal life and a tissue donor was her best chance at a successful surgery. Her pain was already debilitating, but with a curve that was increasing […]

Anita

Anita Smith was born in Northwest Denver.  Rare complications from a cancer diagnosis and lifesaving treatment led to kidney failure in 2003.  After a decade of chronic illness, and enormous support from her family and the Denver medical community, she received her transplant in 2013.    My story begins with a circle of brilliant, compassionate, […]

Gabriel

As told by Gabriel’s mother Lisa Pregnant with our first child, I learned that my unborn son would be born with a heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and would need a heart transplant immediately following his birth in order to survive. Not knowing what this meant, I struggled to make sense of all […]

Kacey

On April 20, 1999, Kacey was one of several high school students involved in the tragic shootings that took place at Columbine High School. Kacey is a survivor, but had severe damage to her right hand, arm and shoulder as a result of a single shotgun blast. Kacey sustained injuries during the Columbine shootings that […]