John Fortney (heart recipient) and Transplant House of Cleveland’s on-staff transplant social worker, Annette Humberson, have been running the Second Chance Alcoholics Anonymous Program at the House for 3 years. The program is exclusively for those who are attempting to attain sobriety to qualify for transplant or those who have been transplanted and want continued…
Read MoreFor families facing organ transplant, the path ahead is full of unknowns. Evaluation, listing, the wait, and the recovery and their new life that comes after each have their own challenges – and no two transplant journeys are exactly alike. The emotional and physical pain that guests experience, the weight of the stress that this…
Read MoreIt can be difficult to measure the impact this House has on the guests who stay with us. How do you tell the full impact on a worried caregiver of a walk around the neighborhood with our transplant social worker? What about time spent sharing stories of life back home over a community dinner and…
Read MoreIntroducing the Sunflower Fund, to benefit organ transplant families who are experiencing long stays at Transplant House of Cleveland. All proceeds from the sale of artisan-made items such as jewelry, artwork, embroidery, handmade soaps, and custom woodworking, will directly support families staying at the House. You can visit the Sunflower Fund’s online Etsy store at…
Read MoreAnnette Humberson joined the Transplant House staff in March of 2020 as Transplant House’s Social Work Manager. You can read the first part of our series on social work at Transplant House here. * To protect their privacy, the names of the guests referred to in this piece have been substituted for pseudonyms. The afternoon…
Read MoreWe would never have known that guest Jim Szorady was making beautiful music in our community space if not for the notes. Handwritten ones at first, rather than the musical kind. Jim is undergoing CAR-T therapy at University Hospitals. As a result of the treatment, he is immunosuppressed. He and his wife, Marilyn, have been…
Read MoreWhen preparing an apartment for the arrival of a new guest, we don’t expect to find messages from those who previously stayed with us. But that is exactly what we recently found in Apartment 10 – a chain of encouragement and hope stretching across months and miles written in blue and black dry erase ink…
Read MoreWhat do you do on your transplant anniversary? The day a patient receives their life-saving organ, eye, or tissue transplant, is one of the most important days of their life. Some patients choose to have a yearly celebration with family and friends or even go on a vacation, while others mark it with quiet reflection. Our…
Read MoreWay over here (across the map of the U.S.), this Executive Director is aching for a professional golfer who is blessed to be alive this morning, but undoubtedly in physical and emotional pain. He is probably experiencing shock and disorientation, maybe feeling overwhelmed and dealing with a scrambled sense of next steps, all while feeling…
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