The Lourdes Center for Organ Transplantation recently hosted a reunion for patients who received a transplant at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center. More than 130 transplant recipients, donors, families and staff attended the celebratory dinner and reception, held at The Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cherry Hill.
Transplant patients, some from the program’s beginnings in the mid-1970s, shared stories about their lives since receiving the new organ and reunited with Lourdes medical staff.
Lourdes celebrates the transplant patients who received a second chance at life and honors those donors who make transplants possible. Every time a transplant is performed, the statue of Our Lady atop the hospital is lit green in honor of the donor and recipient.
More than 120,000 people in the United States are currently waiting for a life-saving organ transplant, including 4,000 in New Jersey.