Flag-raising at Packard Children’s Hospital Honors Lasting Legacy of Organ Donation

Stanford Drugs Kids’s Well being raises consciousness for Nationwide Donate Life Month

Stanford Medicine Children’s Health held a flag-raising ceremony within the Dawes Backyard Tuesday at Lucile Packard Kids’s Hospital Stanford to honor organ donors, have fun recipients and lift consciousness for the significance of organ donation. The occasion was held by the Pediatric Transplant Center as a part of a collection of actions deliberate throughout Nationwide Donate Life Month, celebrated every April.

Well being care directors and workers had been joined by representatives from Donor Community West together with sufferers and their households together with these personally impacted by organ donation.

Wynne and Annie Vo reunited with their heart specialist, Beth Kaufman, MD, director of the Pediatric Cardiomyopathy Program, through the occasion. The sisters had been recognized with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a genetic coronary heart illness that runs of their household. Wynne obtained her coronary heart transplant 10 years in the past, and Annie lately had her coronary heart transplant in January 2026. This locations them a decade aside of their transplant journeys.

“I believe it’s fairly cool as a result of I see a future model of myself in her, and he or she sees a youthful model of herself in me,” says Annie. “And I believe it’s actually cool that we get to be right here and get to expertise life collectively, and that’s all made potential via our donors. Elizabeth “Lizzy” Craze is the longest-surviving coronary heart transplant affected person at Stanford since present process a coronary heart transplant in 1984. “There weren’t a whole lot of hospitals on the planet doing them on youngsters at the moment,” Lizzy mentioned. “To me, the reward of organ donation signifies that I used to be in a position to develop up and have a standard life. I went to highschool, graduated faculty, received married, and I’ve a son of my very own. With out organ donation, I wouldn’t have been in a position to do any of that.”

A Lasting Legacy of Hope

Nationwide Donate Life Month honors deceased and residing donors and their households, acknowledges transplant recipients and brings consideration to the hundreds of kids nonetheless ready.

Based on Donate Life America, greater than 2,200 youngsters beneath the age of 18 are on the nationwide transplant ready checklist and 27% of kids ready for an organ transplant are beneath 5 years previous. Greater than 1,874 youngsters had been saved by the generosity of donors and donor households in 2025. One organ donor can save the lives of as much as eight individuals and a tissue donor can heal greater than 75 others.

At the moment there are 59 children on the transplant waitlist for strong organs at Stanford Kids’s.

Anybody can register to avoid wasting lives, leaving an enduring legacy of hope. To study extra, go to https://registerme.org.

The Pediatric Transplant Center at Lucile Packard Kids’s Hospital Stanford is a nationwide transplant chief with greater than 30 years of expertise performing pediatric organ transplants.