Direct Mail
If you and the recipient have
exchanged several letters, you may
wish to reveal more information,
or you may want direct
communication with the recipient.
If you are both interested in this,
you can exchange addresses in
your next letters and write directly
to each other.
If you have any questions about
writing to your loved one’s
recipients, please call Donor
Family Services at the OPO
A Guide for
Donor Families
If you want to
write to your
loved one’s
recipients…
Writing to the Recipients
Although the recipients remain
anonymous, the OPO provides general
information to donor families about
the recipients of their loved one’s
organs and tissue. Upon request from
the next of kin, we will also check on
the recipient’s condition months or
years after transplant.
It is a personal choice whether to reach
out to recipients with cards or letters.
If you choose to write, we strongly
suggest that your first letter not
include any information that would
make it easy to identify the donor.
 Please refer to your loved one by
first name only.
 Give only the state where you live,
not the city.
 Do not name the hospital where
your loved one died.
 Tell something about the donor’s
family.
 Give some of the donor’s special
interests.
 Sign only your first name.
If you have any questions about
writing to your loved one’s
recipients, please call Donor
The Process
Send your letter to Donor Family
Services at the OPO. Be sure to
include a separate sheet with your
name, the full name and date of
death of your loved one, and any
instructions to us.
If you want your letter to go to
multiple recipients, we will make the
copies and forward them.
Your letter will go through a process
that takes some time before it gets to
the recipient:
After we receive it, we will follow
your directions, look up the
information we need to find out if the
recipient was transplanted locally or
out of our area and then we will
forward your letter to the transplant
center where the recipient is being
followed or to the Organ Procurement
Organization for the area where the
transplant took place. They will
forward it to the recipient’s
transplant center.
The Recipient
The coordinator (nurse) assigned to
the recipient will either mail your
letter to the recipient or hold it until
the next time the recipient is
scheduled for a check-up.
Even after the recipient receives your
letter s/he may take a long time to
write back, or may not write at all.
Some recipients tell us that they have
a great deal of trouble knowing how
to respond to the family who gave
them the “gift of life”. This does not
mean that they aren’t grateful for
their second chance at life.
You should know that recipients are
thankful every day of their lives and
they are very aware of how precious a
gift they were given by a family
facing a tragedy.