Gift of Life Donor Program

A warm, welcoming smile, a home-cooked meal, good night’s sleep, respite from the stress of a transplant journey – all these await families at Gift of Life Howie's House. We’re celebrating the 13th anniversary of the House, a haven of hope and healing for transplant patients and their families. The House has provided an extraordinary $14 million in subsidized care for transplant families and achieved milestones of 100,000 lodging nights and 400,000 meals. No eligible family is ever turned away for inability to pay. Former Gift of Life President & CEO Howard M. Nathan conceived his vision for the House through his sister Martha’s need for a liver transplant as he learned about other transplant families traveling to an unfamiliar city, sometimes sleeping in hospital lounges or their cars because a hotel stay was too expensive. Thank you to our friends at Gift of Life Howie's House who provide a caring, supportive environment for their guests. You can help more brave families complete this difficult journey by supporting our goal to register 50,000 more organ donors! Go to donors1.org to register and share this post reminding others to register to be a donor hero! Learn more and sign up at www.donors1.org/register #GiftofLife50 #50Fridays

Gift of Life was proud to host the Montgomery County Coroner’s office on a recent visit to Gift of Life HQ and Gift of Life Howie's House. Members of the Gift of Life Transplant Information Center and tissue recovery team met with the coroner’s office, underscoring the critical role the coroner’s office plays in facilitating the life-saving work of organ and tissue donation. Working together, our vital collaboration ensures donor families can find comfort and hope in knowing their loved one can save lives and the coroner’s investigation will be fully supported. Our guests also learned about various volunteer opportunities, including ways to help support transplant families at the House. Earlier this year, Montgomery County Coroner became the first coroner’s office in our region to partner with Gift of Life for a #DonateLifeMonth flag-raising ceremony as we honored the donor heroes who make organ donation possible. To recognize Gift of Life’s 50 years of saving lives, help us register 50,000 more organ donors. Together, we can provide hope to the thousands waiting for a transplant. Sign up at www.donors1.org/register

Join us to celebrate the 13th birthday of Gift of Life Howie's House, a home away from home for transplant patients and their families – and one of the proudest accomplishments in the 50-year-history of Gift of Life Donor Program. YOU have the power to help end the transplant waitlist and give a second chance at life to thousands of children and adults! It’s easy, private and takes less than a minute to click and sign up online as an organ donor right now. To honor Gift of Life’s 50 years of saving lives, help us register 50,000 more organ donors and provide hope to the thousands waiting for transplant. Sign up at www.donors1.org.

In honor of #WorldEmojiDay, drop an emoji(s) in the comments to describe your connection to organ, eye and tissue donation! Answer with all that apply to you! To honor Gift of Life’s 50 years of saving lives, help us register 50,000 more organ donors. Together, we can provide hope to the thousands waiting for a transplant. Sign up at www.donors1.org/register and then you can add this emoji: 🏆 🏆 Registered donor ❤️ Heart recipient 💚 Liver recipient 🧡 Kidney recipient 💜 Lung recipient 💛 Pancreas recipient 💗 Small intestine recipient 💙 Tissue recipient 👁 Cornea recipient 🌹 Donor family 🥇 Caregiver 🎉 Friend is a recipient 💝 Friend was a donor 💔 Loved one/friend/family member died while waiting 🦋 Family member is a recipient ⏰ Currently waiting for a lifesaving transplant 💪🏼 Living donor ⭐️ Donation and transplant professional 🩺 Healthcare provider ♻️ Believer

As we reflect on this year’s Transplant Games, we would like to highlight one special Team Philly athlete, Kacey Heisler. Kacey was recognized as Youth Athlete of the 2024 Transplant Games of America. Kacey was born with a rare eye disease called Peter’s Anomaly. At only 4 months and 8 months old, Kacey received corneal transplants in both eyes. Now, age 11, Kacey is celebrating 10 years post-transplant thanks to Wills Eye Hospital! Along with her recognition as Youth Athlete at this year’s games, she won gold medals in Youth Olympiad, cycling 1K and bowling and earned a silver medal in darts! We are so proud of Kacey’s accomplishments and know she will continue to be an inspiring testament to the fact that transplantation works at the next Transplant Games and beyond! To honor Gift of Life’s 50 years of saving lives, help us register 50,000 more organ donors. Together, we can provide hope to the thousands waiting for a transplant. Sign up at www.donors1.org/register

The support of compassionate, dedicated hospital partners has been critical to Gift of Life’s mission throughout our 50 years of service. We are especially grateful to Amy J. Goldberg, MD, FACS, Dean of the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University , who spoke to our staff this week. Dr. Golberg recalled a special day in 2003 when she took part in a landmark meeting of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative in Washington, D.C. The collaborative was launched to identify and promote best practices and raise the overall donor consent rate to save more lives through organ donation. “I could just see on people’s faces that this was something really big,” said Dr. Goldberg, who began her work as a trauma surgeon at Temple Health in 1993. As a longstanding partner of Gift of Life, Dr. Goldberg has generously shared her expertise through our educational programs for hospital partners and also supports Gift of Life Howie’s House, a “home away from home” for transplant patients and their families. Her distinguished medical career has included her service as Chair of the Department of Surgery, Chief of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care, and Director of Temple’s General Surgery Residency Program. She has been a powerful advocate for combatting gun violence in Philadelphia and nationally. Thank you for being a champion of our life-saving mission, Dr. Goldberg! Pictured, from left: Howard M. Nathan, Gift of Life Transplant Foundation Executive Director with Dr. Goldberg and Gweneth D. O’Shaughnessy, Gift of Life Donor Program Vice President of Hospital Services. To honor Gift of Life’s 50 years of saving lives, help us register 50,000 more organ donors. Together, we can provide hope to the thousands waiting for a transplant. Sign up at www.donors1.org/register

President and CEO Rick Hasz is leading the charge to sign up 50,000 more organ donors in honor of Gift of Life’s 50 years of saving lives. Life-saving organ donation has been Rick’s passion for decades. In 1993, he joined us as a transplant coordinator, supporting families in times of tragedy to create a heroic legacy for their loved one and a future of hope for waitlist patients. Rick became Gift of Life’s leader in 2022 after serving as our vice president of clinical services for 22 years, guiding a dedicated, world-class team and setting global standards for compassionate and innovative care. Rick, an internationally recognized expert in the field of donation and transplantation, is also president of Gift of Life Transplant Foundation, Gift of Life Institute and Gift of Life Howie's House. He's been saving lives for more than 30 years – but it takes much less time to bring hope to thousands of waitlist patients. “It only takes about 30 seconds to sign up to become an organ donor. Those 30 seconds can mean a lifetime to someone,” Rick says. Go to donors1.org today and take 30 seconds - that’s less time than it took you to read this post - to sign up as a donor. You’ll help us achieve our goal of registering 50,000 more organ donors in honor of our 50 years of saving lives. Visit donors1.org to register and share this post urging others to register to be a donor hero! Learn more and sign up at www.donors1.org/register #GiftofLife50 #50Fridays

Join Gift of Life Howie's House on July 16 for a special caregiver webinar, “Transplant Caregiver Burden.” Gift of Life Howie’s House social worker Mia Moore, MSW, will lead a panel discussion on caregiver fatigue and burnout caused by stress, anxiety, and depression. The panel, comprised of caregivers, will share their experiences. Thank you to CSL Behring for sponsoring these webinars. Learn more and register today: https://ow.ly/Jl7750StcEb

Happy #NationalVideoGameDay! 1 donor can save 8 lives. Be a #DonateLife hero every day. To honor Gift of Life’s 50 years of saving lives, help us register 50,000 more organ donors and provide hope to the thousands waiting for a transplant: www.donors1.org/register 💙💚

Team Philly is off and running (and biking, swimming, golfing and more)! The Transplant Games have begun in Birmingham, Alabama, and we are so excited to cheer on this year’s participants from across Gift of Life’s region. Join us in celebrating the power of donation and transplantation as our incredible athletes show off their skills and bring home the gold! Today, our athletes competed in ballroom dancing and swimming and took home 14 medals, ten of them gold! Thanks to their transplant(s) at Jefferson Health and PennMedicine they are able to showcase vitality and athleticism as transplant recipients at the Transplant Games and beyond. Stay tuned for updates as our team competes throughout the week. To honor Gift of Life’s 50 years of saving lives, help us register 50,000 more organ donors. Together, we can provide hope to the thousands waiting for a transplant. Sign up at www.donors1.org/register