Setting Records Straight

Transplant Games break world records and combat stigma around organ donation

Story and photos by: Mariana Ortega Rivera

For six days straight, the Colorado Convention Center turned into an Olympic-style event to host the Transplant Games of America, TGA. Featuring its own village and competitions scattered throughout Downtown Denver, TGA drew thousands of living donors, transplant recipients, and donor families who gathered to raise awareness about organ donation.

From left to right: Bill Ryan, founder & CEO of Transplant Life Foundation, joined Kathleen Hostert of Life’s Short, Live It as the Guinness World Records adjudicator. Photo courtesy of Alex Paz.

Colorado leads the nation in donor designation, with approximately 66% of residents registering their choice on driver’s licenses or IDs, compared to a national average of 49%. Despite these high registration rates, more than 1,300 Coloradans currently await a transplant. Multicultural communities comprise about 41% of that waiting list, with significant representation among Latino and Black/African American populations.

One of the main events of the games was breaking the Guinness World Records for the most living donors and organ recipients gathered in one place at the same time. The record was broken Saturday, June 20, at the TGA Village, where 966 living donors and organ recipients were present for 2 hours.

Left to right: Five-time Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin, her dad and kidney recipient Dick Franklin, his donor, world record holder and Olympic gold medalist Crissy Franklin, alongside HRSA Administrator Thomas Engel, stand in front of a donor quilt after their press conference at the Transplant Games at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, June 20.

Beyond the record attempt, participants competed in swimming, track and field, pickleball, basketball, Youth Olympiad, and ballroom dancing. Non-athletic events included Texas Hold’em, trivia, and Lyrics for Life.

However, TGA is more than competitions; for some, it was showing what life is like after giving or receiving an organ. Others met their donor or donor’s family for the first time, and sponsors showed what their programs had to offer.

After the closing ceremony ended and everyone said their goodbyes, what remained wasn't about setting a record or the medal count; it was thousands of reminders that one decision, made years ago by a stranger, friend, or family member, might still be changing lives today.