BLOG

RHTH Reunion Pics: Thank you all!

9/13/2019

Heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped to make our first ever Restoring Hope Transplant House Family Reunion such a wonderful day. What an honor it was to host and witness the first meeting between one of our RHTH organ recipient families and the mother of her incredible donor. Such an emotional moment between two ladies that will share a special bond for life!

How wonderful it was to see so many of our transplant families that day at nearby Capital Brewery in Middleton. To share old stories, big hugs and lots of laughs made it a truly great day. We cannot thank our friend David Stedman and the Main Street Big Band enough for their incredible performance that day. It really meant a lot to us to have a dear transplant family and Lions Club friend and his band there with us and what a talented group they are. We received so many kind words about their band.

Thanks also to Capital Brewery for being such a great host and welcoming venue just down the street. Grateful to our Lions Club friends who came out and had a great time while running the 50/50 raffle. Also appreciate those who helped volunteer and organize this event as well as our generous sponsors listed below. With this years overwhelming success, we hope to turn this into an annual gathering...thanks be to you all!

With thanks to our Reunion Sponsors for making this great day possible!

Restoring Hope Reunion Updates: Early Registration Deadline

8/19/2019

One more week until the early registration deadline for the upcoming Restoring Hope Transplant House Family Reunion. This fun gathering will take place on September 8th at Capital Brewery. Please click here to learn more!

New Email: Reunion Registration and Cap City Pics

8/7/2019

Restoring Hope Transplant House Family Reunion is coming up on Sunday, September 8th at Capital Brewery. Please read our latest email for more information about registration as well as a follow-up in pictures from the Capital City 5k. Always a lot of fun when we get together...hope to see a lot of you in attendance at Middleton's favorite gathering spot on September 8th!
Email: https://conta.cc/2yHBJ9I
Registration: http://www.restoringhope.org/sept-8-rhth-family-reunion.html

Sept 8: RHTH Family Reunion at Capital Brewery

8/1/2019

We are working hard to organize a Restoring Hope Transplant House Family Reunion event that will be open to all RHTH guests, friends and supporters. This event will be held at nearby Capital Brewery on Sunday September, 8th. Additional information and registration is available above and sponsorship opportunities are included below. We look forward to seeing you at this fun event in September!

Cap City 5k: How Finishing Last Felt Like Finishing First (pics)

7/31/2019

What a wonderful evening we all had for the recent Capital City 5k Transplant Walk/Run. There were dozens of Restoring Hope Transplant House guests, friends and supporters at the event. It felt like our very own Family Reunion.

Something seriously needs to be said before it gets lost forever, though, about how you all helped to create one of the coolest moments I have ever witnessed that night.

As most of you know, Ben (first simultaneous heart and liver transplant recipient in UW history) and Liz (pancreas recipient) spent over 10 months at Restoring Hope Transplant House for various health related issues and are still back on a regular basis while trying to sort through it all. They have become some of my very best friends...we have been through a lot together.

At the end of the one mile mark, I pulled Liz aside and said “as your friend I really think you guys should stop here and take the bus back!”

Fast forward to the 2 mile cone where I told them both “I have NO problem finishing last and I would be happy to get you an Uber the rest of the way if you need it, but I really don’t want to finish dead last all by myself at this point...so let’s go!”

One last stop at the 3 mile marker to catch a breath and some water and we can hear the emcee yell out...”looks like we have a few more left...you can do it!”

With the finish line in sight, I could make out the silhouettes of several familiar Transplant House friends all waiting and cheering us on long after the other participants had taken off. I could hear Liz crying down the entire home stretch and I was even glad I was wearing sun glasses at the time. Then a big group of our friends started to walk back out through the finish line towards us to help guide Ben and the rest of us in triumphantly. Cheers, tears, loyal friends...we finished dead last in an event that had a gajillion participants and it was one of the proudest moments of our lives. Appreciate you all for making this such a special day!❤️

New RHTH E-newsletter: Transplant 5k On Saturday!

7/24/2019

A new RHTH e-newsletter was just sent out with a ton of great summer updates. Hope to see you all out at the Capital City Transplant 5k this Saturday!

Thanks for everything Ed Pompeian

7/9/2019

Our family is deeply saddened to learn of the recent passing of Ed Pompeian. Ed received a life-saving kidney transplant at Mayo Clinic in 1973. In 1984, he founded Gift of Life Transplant House in Rochester, MN to help other transplant families that followed in his footsteps. Gift of Life was the first transplant house in the country.

Our family stayed at Gift of Life many years ago while a loved one was battling multiple myeloma with a bone marrow transplant. It is a special place. Our families lengthy stay there and the people our family met throughout their journey inspired our efforts to bring the very first transplant house here to Wisconsin. Quite honestly, Restoring Hope Transplant House does not exist without the vision, compassion and generosity of Ed Pompeian. His house and our experiences under his roof so completely moved us that it became our own passion to try to capture the same magic he created for transplant families in Rochester and bring it here to the Madison area. He encouraged and asked us to get this house open for the good of the transplant community, saying how UW Hospital annually performed even more transplants than Mayo. “Transplant families need you”, he would say!

Thanks for everything Ed! We knew you for just a short time, but you changed our lives forever!

New RHTH E-Newsletter for May

5/16/2019

The latest RHTH E-newsletter was just sent out. Grateful to all of the incredible transplant families who have called RHTH home this spring. Some truly amazing people with life-changing miracles that we have been able to witness firsthand. We have had the good fortune to share a home with some truly wonderful people. Thanks for reading!

New RHTH E-Newsletter: Our Busiest Winter Ever

3/27/2019

Our new March RHTH e-newsletter was just sent out and it's packed with all sorts of good stuff. Please take a moment to look it over and share with anyone who may be interested in the cause and the many incredible families that make this place so special. This was our busiest winter ever and that's a credit to you all who have helped to build it over the years. We are so grateful!❤️
https://conta.cc/2FvRVxP

Thank You Lions!

3/12/2019

Heartfelt thanks to all the Lions Clubs at the District D1 convention here in Madison this past weekend for including Restoring Hope Transplant House in their events.

It was so wonderful to also see Dr. Odorico from the UW Transplant Program give a speech and to also have RHTH guests Liz and Jo speak about their longtime battles with diabetes, life-changing experiences at RHTH and their gratitude towards all the Lions Clubs who have so generously supported Restoring Hope Transplant House over the years.

As Liz spoke, it was her one year transplant anniversary for a pancreas...Dr. Odorico was her surgeon. Jo, traveled all the way to RHTH from Anchorage, AK as a caregiver. While attending a Lions Convention with RHTH Executive Director Cindy Herbst weeks ago, Jo was so moved by the people and their mission that she became a Lions Club member on the spot. It was an emotional day for us to hear so many of our dear friends share their love and stories. Thank you all!

<<Previous