Indiana Donor Network contacts the family of each tissue donor to thank them for their loved one’s healing gifts and to provide updates about the outcomes of their donation. These communications help connect donor families to the importance of donation, and ensure their loved one’s legacy lives on.
The information below is meant to aid partners of Indiana Donor Network who facilitate the preparation of recovered tissue for transplants. While recipients of donor tissue are very grateful for the healing gifts they receive, they often are either not aware of the origin of their graft or may be left curious about how they can thank their tissue donor’s family. The resources and suggestions below can help. Indiana Donor Network and the Aftercare Support Services team hope that by sharing the below materials, we can grow the field of expert care for those who have experienced grief and loss.
Correspondence cards are provided to tissue transplant partners to share with the tissue recipient via their care team at their medical center. This resource is available to tissue recipients to make it easier to write to their donor families anonymously through the correspondence process. See example. 
We encourage all Indiana Donor Network tissue transplant partners to utilize these cards with all their medical center partners to ensure they reach tissue transplant patients. These can be requested for free by emailing Aftercare@INDonorNework.org.
Many donor families find meaning in knowing that their loved one continues to help others long after their donation. Upon request, donation updates are provided to donor families regarding tissue donations.
If an update request is received for a donor hero whose tissue gifts were received by your organization, our aftercare support team will reach out directly to the designated staff member who can provide the most current and accurate tissue transplantation outcome. We look forward to your cooperation and participation in this process.
Indiana Donor Network hosts correspondence workshops for organ and tissue transplant recipients. Correspondence workshops cover the following topics:
- Correspondence guidelines
- What can be sent in the correspondence?
- How does the correspondence process work & timeline?
- FAQs from donor families and recipients
- Identity disclosure – how do donor families and recipients meet each other?
- Common Concerns of donor families and recipients
- Correspondence examples
- Correspondence surveys to donor families and recipients and insights to results
- What to do if you need help writing your letter
- Resources available if you do not hear back after writing
Contact our Aftercare Support team at aftercare@INDonorNetwork.org to request our Correspondence Guidelines.
The decision to write is a personal choice. Some transplant recipients and families of donor heroes choose to write to each other, and others do not. Indiana Donor Network is bound by medical ethics and privacy regulations to keep the identities of donors and recipients confidential unless permission is given by both parties, and we take this privacy seriously.
Typically, correspondence starts with written letters, which can be sent with the help of an intermediary (like the OPO or tissue transplant partner involved in the donation/transplantation). This ensures a level of privacy for either side. If one or both sides would like to proceed to direct contact between a donor’s next-of-kin and a transplant recipient, they would need to complete an identity disclosure. Each party is required to sign a confidentiality release form which gives the facilitating organization the ability to share the contact information of each party, opening the door to unfacilitated, direct contact and communication.
