4 Tips for Preventing Organ Transplant Rejection

After a long wait on the transplant list, you finally get your transplantation surgery. You immediately start to feel better, but suddenly you notice some tenderness over the transplant site. You may even begin to experience flu-like symptoms such as fever, chills, and body aches. While this could be an infection, it could also be… Continue reading 4 Tips for Preventing Organ Transplant Rejection

Give the Gift of Life on National Donor Day

Valentine’s Day is all about showing your love for your significant other.  But what if it were also about showing your love for perfect strangers? February 14th is National Donor Day, a day of awareness about how registering to be an organ donor can give someone a second chance at life.  Does your driver’s license… Continue reading Give the Gift of Life on National Donor Day

Know Your ABC’s on World Hepatitis Day

Did you know that both hepatitis B and hepatitis C can be transmitted through blood-to-blood contact – but hepatitis B is commonly transmitted through unprotected sex as well?  Also, there is a vaccine available for only one of these forms of hepatitis.  Do you know which one it is? (Answer: hepatitis B) Because these “silent” infections… Continue reading Know Your ABC’s on World Hepatitis Day

Preparing for Life After an Organ Transplant

Last week, we shared our interview with a liver transplant recipient who is living out her dreams post-transplant.  Today we’d like to add the insights of 32 organ transplant recipients who took part in an online discussion hosted by PatientsLikeMe.  Split equally in gender with ages ranging from 25 to 60 years old, our discussion… Continue reading Preparing for Life After an Organ Transplant

Love Your Scars: An Interview with Transplant Recipient Amy Tippins

After five years of dealing with undiagnosed multiple hepatic adenomas (hemorrhaging tumors), PatientsLikeMe member Amy Tippins underwent a liver transplant in 1993.  Two years ago, she received a ligament allograft using donor tissue.  How does she feel about it all today?  Check out our interview with this transplant activist to learn how these experiences led… Continue reading Love Your Scars: An Interview with Transplant Recipient Amy Tippins

Have a Heart Today. Become a Donor.

February 14th is Valentine’s Day.  But it’s also National Donor Day. Started in 1998 by the Saturn Corporation and United Auto Workers in cooperation with the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), this annual event is focused on five points of life:  organs, tissues, marrow, platelets and blood.  All of these can be… Continue reading Have a Heart Today. Become a Donor.

What Do You Know About Hepatitis?

Today, July 28th, marks the first official World Hepatitis Day sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Hepatitis Alliance (WHA). Hepatitis kills more than one million people each year, while millions more suffer acute sickness or long-term ill health. The goal of this new event is to raise awareness of this global… Continue reading What Do You Know About Hepatitis?

PatientsLikeMe and Novartis Unite to Launch Community for Organ Transplant Recipients

Recognized by Fast Company as two of the 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World, PatientsLikeMe and Novartis have united to launch a new community for organ transplant recipients (including kidney, lung, heart and liver).  In the news release announcement, PatientsLikeMe President Ben Heywood and Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez discuss what impact this community could… Continue reading PatientsLikeMe and Novartis Unite to Launch Community for Organ Transplant Recipients