Network for Hope supports written correspondence between recipients and donor families. Donor families and recipients have found that communicating can be healing and comforting. A letter or a greeting card from a donor’s family may open the lines of communication in learning more about a loved one’s recipient(s).
The decision to send correspondence is a very personal one, and there is no timeline. If you would like to write to your loved one’s recipient(s), we encourage you to do so. All correspondence is completely anonymous and identities are kept confidential.
You may provide general, non-identifiable information, including:
Please note: Since the religion of recipients is unknown, please consider this when making religious comments.
*If there is more than one transplant recipient, you may write a separate letter for each recipient or Network for Hope can copy your letter and forward it to each recipient.
Network for Hope
Attn: Family Aftercare
10301 Linn
Station Rd .,
Louisville, KY
40223
Network for Hope
Attn: Family Aftercare
615 Elsinore Pl.,
Suite 400,
Cincinnati, OH
45202
You may also email a typed letter to Aftercare@NetworkForHope.org
When mailing your correspondence, please include the following information on a separate piece of paper, to assist us with identifying your loved one’s recipients:
Network for Hope will review your correspondence to ensure confidentiality and will then begin the process of forwarding it. Since your correspondence must be mailed to Network for Hope first and then forwarded, please keep in mind it may take extra time for your letter to reach your loved one’s recipient(s). It may take several weeks after you’ve mailed it for the transplant recipient(s) to receive it.
It is important to understand that you may or may not receive a response. Transplant recipient(s) have said that they are overwhelmed with emotion and have difficulty expressing their feelings. Others may take several months or even years before they feel comfortable writing to their donor’s family.
Communicating with tissue recipients differs from that of organ recipients. Most tissue recipients receive their gift during a surgical procedure in a hospital or outpatient facility and their follow-up care is much different than an organ recipient. Therefore, contact cannot be initiated by the donor family. However, programs have been created to encourage tissue recipients to reach out to their donor families. As a result, the amount of correspondence received has greatly increased. Should Network for Hope receive a letter from one of your loved one’s tissue recipients, we will forward it as soon as possible. For this reason, it’s important to keep Network for Hope informed with your most up-to-date mailing address.
If your loved one was a cornea donor, you may be able to write to their cornea recipient(s). Please contact a Network for Hope Family Aftercare Coordinator for more information.
If you would like to request an update on your loved one’s donation, please provide the following information in the form below.
Information can only be requested by and released to legal next-of-kin listed on authorization forms at the time of donation. This will be confirmed at the point of contact. Thank you.
