AHN Abdominal Transplant

12/24/2025

❄️Happy Holidays from our Abdominal Transplant team. 🎄This season, we reflect on the strength, generosity, and hope that define our transplant community. We are grateful for our patients, caregivers, donors, and care teams who make life-saving work possible every day. Wishing everyone a safe and healthy holiday season! 🎅

12/18/2025

Family House is an incredible partner to AHN, providing a welcoming and affordable place to stay for patients and their familiar who must travel to Pittsburgh for medical care. ❄️🎄Volunteering with Family House is a meaningful way to give back to an organization that offers so much comfort and support to our patients and caregivers during an especially challenging time – particularly throughout the holiday season.🎅❄️

🎄 Volunteer Opportunity: Christmas Day Lunch at Family House 🎄

Family House is seeking volunteers to help serve a warm, festive holiday lunch for our guests, patients and their caregivers, on Thursday, December 25 (Christmas Day).

Volunteer Details:
🕘 Arrival: 9:00 a.m.
🍽️ Tasks: Warm and prep food, set up the holiday buffet, serve lunch from 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m., and assist with post-event clean-up.
⏰ End Time: Volunteers can expect to be finished by 3:00 p.m.

Your time and kindness help make the holidays brighter for families facing medical challenges.

💛 Interested in volunteering?
Email: volunteer@familyhouse.org

12/09/2025

❄️Winter Health Tips for Transplant Recipients❄️
Cold and flu season is here. For transplant recipients, protecting your health is essential. Remember to keep warm - cold weather can add stress to the body. Here are a few ways to stay well this winter:

12/03/2025

🎖️One year ago, on November 25, 2024, Kelly gave Roger the ultimate gift – a second chance at life through kidney donation. While recovering in the hospital, they joked, “Next Thanksgiving we’ll run the Turkey Trot together!” This year, they made that promise a reality. Kelly and Roger crossed the finish line side-by-side. Crossing that finish line together is more than a race…it’s a celebration of strength, healing, and the life changing power of living donation. 💫

Thank you to this pair for sharing their inspirational story! ✨

11/25/2025

🍂Celebrating the season of giving – with gratitude.

Grateful for the donors who give the gift of life.
Grateful for the recipients whose resilience inspires us.
Grateful for the families and caregivers who support every step of the way.
Grateful for our transplant team for their dedication and compassion.

From all of us at AHN Abdominal Transplant — thank you for being part of this incredible community.🧡

11/18/2025

✨Celebrating Our Post-Kidney Transplant Coordinators ✨

After a kidney transplant, the journey to recovery doesn’t end – it truly begins. We’re proud to have four incredible post-kidney transplant coordinators – Shelly, Shauna, Krista and Callie – who bring a combined 42 years of experience to our transplant program.

From medication management and lab monitoring to education, follow up care, and emotional support, they are there every step of the way. Their expertise, compassion and dedication ensure our patients feel supported long after surgery.

💚Thank you to Shelly, Shauna, Krista and Callie for helping our patients not just recover but thrive.💙

11/11/2025

💚 Thank You for an Inspiring Conversation on Living Donation!

This past Sunday, we were honored to attend the Live Donor Project/National Kidney Foundation event at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. At this donor event, our transplant surgeon, Dr. Jennifer Carpenter, and several living donors shared their insights and experiences about living donor surgery. The donor panel included both altruistic and directed donors, offering diverse perspectives on their motivations, experiences, and the impact of living donation.

Attendees had the unique opportunity to hear directly from the expert who performs these life-changing procedures—and from the generous donors who gave the ultimate gift of life. Their stories of courage, compassion, and connection truly inspired everyone in the room.

A heartfelt thank you to our speakers, attendees, and all who continue to support the mission of saving lives through living donation. Together, we’re building a stronger transplant community. 💚

11/04/2025

🔬 From the OR to the Classroom! 🧠💚

Our transplant surgeon, Dr. Jennifer Carpenter, recently gave students a hands-on lesson in kidney anatomy and surgery! Using real sheep kidneys, students got to see how these incredible organs work and about kidney transplants.

It was an inspiring day full of curiosity, questions, and future medical minds at work. 👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️
We love opportunities to share the science and passion behind transplantation with the next generation!

10/28/2025

🌟 Calling All Transplant Donors! 🌟
The Live Donor Project is hosting an upcoming event! 💚

Are you or someone you know interested in being a living kidney donor?

Join us for a free event to connect with fellow donors, enjoy refreshments, and celebrate the incredible impact of donation.
You will learn how to connect with a transplant center, what to expect throughout the living donor evaluation and hear living donors share their stories.

🗓️ Date: Sunday, November 9th from 11AM to 1PM
📍 Location: Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, 1 Schenley Drive, Pittsburgh PA 15213
💬 RSVP: https://events.blackthorn.io/en/5f4bLi97/becoming-a-living-donor-4a3VUz9zNd/overview

Whether you donated a kidney, are looking for a living donor, or part of your story helps someone else — we’d love to see you there. Let’s honor your generosity and share in the spirit of giving life!


https://thelivedonorproject.org

10/23/2025

💚 Happy Liver Awareness Month!
FUN FACT: Your liver can grow back! 💚
When someone donates part of their liver, BOTH the donor’s and recipient’s livers regrow to full size within months! 🌱

✨ Did you know?
🩺 You only need part of your liver to live a healthy life
👫 You don’t have to be related to donate
⏳ Living donation means shorter wait times
💪 Donors return to normal, active lives after recovery

Be the reason someone gets a second chance.
Living donation = Living proof that hope grows back. 💫

💚 If you are interested in being evaluated to be a potential living liver donor, fill out our donor screen link: https://agh.donorscreen.org/register/now

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10/14/2025

💚 October is Liver Awareness Month 💚

This month, we shine a light on the importance of liver health and celebrate the life-saving impact of liver transplantation.

Your liver is one of the body’s hardest-working organs — filtering toxins, aiding digestion, and keeping your body in balance. Yet liver disease often goes unnoticed until it becomes serious.

At Allegheny Health Network, our team is dedicated to education, early detection, and advanced transplant care for those affected by liver disease.

👉 Take time this month to:
• Learn about liver health and prevention
• Get screened if you’re at risk
• Register as an organ donor — one donor can save up to 8 lives

Together, we can bring hope and healing to those waiting for a second chance at life.

💚

10/07/2025

✨In addition to her work with organ donation, Shelly has been an exceptional post-kidney transplant coordinator for OVER 13 YEARS. Her compassion, dedication, and attention to every detail help patients navigate life after transplant with confidence and care. Her commitment to helping patients not only recover but truly thrive is what makes her such a valued member of the AHN Abdominal Transplant team. Thank you for all you do!✨

Shelly is a transplant coordinator at AHN Allegheny General Hospital. She sees the POWER of organ donation every day! 💪

Shelly helps patients through the transplant process. Her favorite part? Calling patients to tell them an organ is available! 🎉 "We get to have that experience that when we call them in for a transplant, how excited they are, the joy and the hope that they have." ✨

After the Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania’s (HAP) Donate Life Challenge in April, Shelly may have a better chance at helping her patients in the future. We have been named as a top performing health system in Western PA for the HAP Donate Life Challenge!

Through this annual challenge, HAP recognizes the efforts of health care providers who lead effective campaigns to increase organ donation awareness within their hospitals and communities. In total, AHN registered more than 375 new organ donors in April thanks to its efforts! 🎉

Thank you to our team members for their efforts in helping us be named as a top performing health system for this challenge!

Join a team that truly cares: https://bit.ly/3ONBYb2

Learn more about this challenge: https://bit.ly/3WkeTzE