Recipient Stories

Organ, eye and tissue donations can have a lasting impact on transplant recipients and their loved ones. Hear real-life stories from individuals who have received lifesaving and life-enhancing transplants, thanks to the generosity of donors and their families.

Kirsten Stuck

As a young teenager who already had undergone multiple knee surgeries, Kirsten Stuck thought her active lifestyle may have come to an end when she learned she would need repeated procedures for the rest of her life.

Receiving donated tissue has changed Kirsten’s perspective on organ, eye and tissue donation.

JJ Hayes & Michelle Horne

Most people who become living organ donors do so to give a loved one a second chance at life. Cindy Glazier falls into a different category.

Cindy had heard radio host and Green Ribbon Champion JJ Hayes talk on air about his wife, Michelle, and her need for a lifesaving kidney transplant. Although she didn’t know JJ or Michelle at the time, Cindy felt compelled to become a potential kidney donor.

Kari Alejandre

A donated heart gave Kari a second chance at life, the birth of a son and a lifelong connection to the family of her young donor, Keely, who had cerebral palsy.

When her daughter, Keely, passed away, Mary Ann Bjorgaard was devastated. Then a chance meetup led her to learn who Keely’s heart saved, and she realized that in a way, Keely was now able to walk and talk — abilities she had never had since being born with cerebral palsy and without the left side of her brain. Keely’s heart gave Kari Alejandre a second chance at life.

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Read about donor families and the impact their loved ones made, or tell us about your own personal experience with organ donation.

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