I wanted you to know that the cards and notes from the tissue recipients have been a wonderful surprise for us. For the past many years we have had to explain to families of tissue donors that there was no way for them to make contact with any of the recipients of their loved one’s gifts…..Now your program has begun to provide a few contacts….The gratitude and relief expressed by the family who receives a card or noted via your program is a joy to behold.”
Arlene Barnett, Manager, Donor Family Services
New York Organ Donor Network
“I want to thank you for the recent letters you have sent to several Midwest Transplant Network donor families on behalf of your tissue recipients. These letters of thanks and appreciation provide great comfort to a family whose loved one has died and given gifts of life through donation.”
Marcia Schoenfeld, Donor Family Services Coordinator
Midwest Transplant Network
“I just received my first letter from Osteotech from a recipient of [tissue] to their donor family. I can’t begin to tell you what it meant for the family to receive this letter… Last year I had a conversation with the mother of a teenage girl who was a tissue donor. When her mom learned that she most likely will never hear from her tissue recipients…she was absolutely dumbfounded and a bit angry. She said this was enough for her and her husband to change their donor designation to “no”.”
Karen Elizabeth Hannahs, LCSW
Family Support Liaison
Intermountain Donor Services
The impact of tissue donation, as well as the correspondence program, is being felt nationwide – as shared in this article from Mid-America Transplant Services
