2024
About Us
Officially formed in May of 1988, New Hearts Transplant Support Group, now known as Nebraska Transplant Support Group, is a 501(c)3 non-profit, all volunteer organization, incorporated in Nebraska. Our members include transplant recipients and their families, transplant candidates or potential candidates, donor families, medical personnel, and others interested in promoting donor awareness.
Our group serves people with all types of organ and tissue transplants—heart, lung, liver, pancreas, kidney, small bowel and cornea.
We offer the opportunity to meet and share with other transplant families, to learn important transplant-related information from our guest speakers, to honor donors and their families, and to promote donor awareness in the community. And, we’re a fun group, grateful for the
Gift of Life!
Our Mission
- To provide moral support and information to pre- and post-transplant families;
- To promote public awareness of the success of transplants and the growing need for organ and tissue donors; and
- To honor donor families.
Membership
Membership is open to any person interested in furthering the goals of the organization. That includes people who have just found out they may need a transplant, people on the waiting list, transplant recipients, and donor family members, healthcare professionals and others interested in promoting
donor awareness.
Meetings or activities are usually conducted monthly, and we communicate regularly through emails.
There are no membership dues or fees.
Operating funds for the group come from the sales of T-shirts and other items with a variety of designs. Proceeds from the sale of these items and any donations or memorials are used to sponsor donor awareness activities, provide information and handouts at our booths and events, honor donor families, provide small patient grants and cover miscellaneous operating expenses. For ordering information, contact Mary Kay Thieman at 402-598-6766 or by email at NebraskaNewHearts@gmail.com.
Support Services
Our primary function as a transplant support group is to provide a support service for patients who are both in the pre- and post- transplant process. Support services may include:
- Responding immediately and sensitively when called by a doctor or hospital staff member (or other referral) to talk with a family which has just been told about the need for a transplant. Getting to see and talk with someone who has “been there” can make a significant difference in the attitude of the patient and family to the possibility of a transplant.
- Hosting monthly transplant support and educational meeting providing a forum for recipients, caregivers, and those waiting for a transplant to share their concerns about the transplant process.
- Providing information about the transplant process and resources to family members.
- Offering emotional support and friendship to families from out of town who are in the Omaha area for a transplant.
- Communicating with families throughout the various phases of the transplant process through visits, cards, phone calls, regular support group meetings and activities, social media, mailings and emails.
- Providing small financial grants to transplant families to assist with emergency medical or living expenses. For more information, please contact NebraskaNewHearts@gmail.com.
Let Us Hear From You!
If you or your family member has had a transplant, we’d love to have you join us! If we can help support a family you know that may be facing a transplant, or if you would like more information on organ donation from the very positive perspective of a recipient, please call any of our officers listed below. We will be very happy to help you in any way possible.
Nebraska Transplant Support Group
(New Hearts) Officers
President:
Missy McCool (heart recipient)
402-206-5708
Vice President/Program Chair:
Open
Secretary:
Lisa Carmichael (heart recipient)
402-905-8077
Treasurer:
Mary Kay Thieman (recipient family)
402-598-6766
Past President:
Vicki Showell (Manager, Team Nebraska)
402-676-8757
If you would like to be added to our email newsgroup, send your email address to Lisa Carmichael at NebraskaNewHearts@gmail.com.
For general questions or information, email us at NebraskaNewHearts@gmail.com.
Gift of Life
Transplant Mentors
TNebraska Medicine is working with an organization from Kansas called the Gift of Life. The purpose of this organization is to match organ recipients with those who are waiting on the list. It's pretty neat because they have a detailed database that helps them match patient characteristics beyond organ. They do their best to match Mentor/Mentee with similar experiences, such as same organ, and then maybe they both are a parent with young children, or they both drank before. Whatever it may be, it helps people connect on another level. When you have a moment, please check out the Gift of Life website https://giftdonor.org/programs/transplant-mentors/.
The mentor/mentee are not necessarily in the same geographic region. It is a one-on-one relationship. This is meant to supplement what we do with our transplant group locally, but not replace it. The more connection we have, the better it helps our mental health in the healing process. The #1 thing that patients asked for from the patient advisory group was patient support groups so it is wonderful to have this as a resource.
If you are interested in mentoring, please contact the Gift of Life and fill out the form. They will not accept people as mentors until they are at least one year out from transplant. This is so that they are past the period when they themselves are past the emotional ups and downs from steroids.
