Hi, I’m Dr. Toby Campbell—a palliative care physician and communication researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For the past twenty years, I’ve studied how doctors and patients navigate tough conversations, especially when facing life-changing decisions. But nothing could have prepared me for one of the most unique and profound discussions in medicine: the request for organ donation.
What makes this conversation so extraordinary? It’s the only time in healthcare where the decision doesn’t directly help the patient but instead gives someone else a second chance at life. These difficult conversations sparked my interest in learning about the nuances of organ donation and the lived experiences of everyone touched by this process. How, where, and when do these discussions happen? How do healthcare professionals prepare for such a massive task, and what language do they use? How do families respond to such requests and make an extremely difficult decision on behalf of their loved ones? Is organ procurement just like any surgery? What do recipients think about organ donors? How do recipients find living donors? And what struggles do they endure before and after receiving an organ?
To explore these questions, I’ve sat down with donor families, transplant surgeons, medical doctors, organ recipients, recovery specialists, and many others who’ve been touched by this journey. Their stories are powerful, surprising, and profoundly moving. I hope you’ll join me as we uncover the heart, the science, and the humanity behind organ donation.
Extraordinary Conversations Ep 6 - Kidney and Liver Recipients
Featured in this episode:
Breanne Wychterley, Brian Web and Tonita, John Jartz, Rod and Patti Meier, Matt Troha, Dr. Aji Djamali, Dr. Jacfranz Guiteau
Summary
What does it mean to receive the ultimate gift, one that comes not wrapped in paper, but in sacrifice? In this profound final episode, we meet the recipients: people whose lives were saved by kidney and liver transplants, and the extraordinary individuals who gave them.
For Breanne, it was her sister who stepped forward without hesitation. For John, it was his doctor, a man who crossed professional boundaries to become family. For Brian and Rod, it was strangers they’ll never meet, whose deaths became their second chance. Their stories reveal the complex emotional landscape of transplantation: the crushing weight of dialysis, the agony of waiting, the guilt of "taking," and the overwhelming gratitude of being given more time.
But this episode is also about the donors, those who gave parts of themselves so others might live. Like Dr. Djamali, the nephrologist who donated a kidney to his patient, forging a bond deeper than blood. Or Breanne’s sister, who shrugged off being called a hero. And the unnamed donor families who, in their grief, chose to send letters, photos, even invitations into their lives, seeking solace in knowing their loved ones live on.
The gift of an organ is not a cure. It’s a trade. One life altered so another can continue. Recipients face lifelong medications, the specter of rejection, and the haunting knowledge that their survival is tied to another’s loss. Yet in that tension, there is transformation. Relationships deepen, priorities shift, and small moments become sacred.
As this season closes, we’re left with a question: What does it mean to truly receive? Not just to survive, but to honor the gift by living fully with all its messy, ordinary, and extraordinary beauty.
Featured in this episode:
Breanne Wychterley, Brian Web and Tonita, John Jartz, Rod and Patti Meier, Matt Troha, Dr. Aji Djamali, Dr. Jacfranz Guiteau
Summary
What does it mean to receive the ultimate gift, one that comes not wrapped in paper, but in sacrifice? In this profound final episode, we meet the recipients: people whose lives were saved by kidney and liver transplants, and the extraordinary individuals who gave them.
For Breanne, it was her sister who stepped forward without hesitation. For John, it was his doctor, a man who crossed professional boundaries to become family. For Brian and Rod, it was strangers they’ll never meet, whose deaths became their second chance. Their stories reveal the complex emotional landscape of transplantation: the crushing weight of dialysis, the agony of waiting, the guilt of "taking," and the overwhelming gratitude of being given more time.
But this episode is also about the donors, those who gave parts of themselves so others might live. Like Dr. Djamali, the nephrologist who donated a kidney to his patient, forging a bond deeper than blood. Or Breanne’s sister, who shrugged off being called a hero. And the unnamed donor families who, in their grief, chose to send letters, photos, even invitations into their lives, seeking solace in knowing their loved ones live on.
The gift of an organ is not a cure. It’s a trade. One life altered so another can continue. Recipients face lifelong medications, the specter of rejection, and the haunting knowledge that their survival is tied to another’s loss. Yet in that tension, there is transformation. Relationships deepen, priorities shift, and small moments become sacred.
As this season closes, we’re left with a question: What does it mean to truly receive? Not just to survive, but to honor the gift by living fully with all its messy, ordinary, and extraordinary beauty.
Extraordinary Conversations Ep 4 - Transplant Surgeons
Transplant Surgeons
Dr. Dan McCarthy, David Grant, Dr. Josh Mezrich, Dr. Jacfranz Guiteau, Dr. Nikole Neidlinger
In this gripping episode, we follow the chaotic, emotional journey of organ transplantation inside the operating rooms and the quiet, anxious moments that define the race for a second chance. You’ll hear from the transplant surgeons who rise in the middle of the night, carrying the weight of two lives: the donor they’ll never meet, and the recipient whose future is in their hands. They share the intoxicating highs of a successful surgery and the crushing difficulty of telling a patient, "The organ isn't right," after they've already rushed to the hospital.
This episode pulls back the curtain on the fragile chain of events that must align for a transplant to happen. Discover why these complex surgeries so often occur in the wee hours, what it’s like for a patient to get "the call," and the immense responsibility surgeons feel to be good stewards of a precious, scarce gift. It’s a story of modern miracles built on profound loss, of the "hurry up and wait" agony of the waiting list, and the raw humanity of doctors who laugh, cry, and are forever changed by the work they do.
