When a Child Needs a Transplant
Organ transplants save lives.
For children living with heart, liver, or kidney disease, a transplant can mean the difference between life and death. But the journey doesn’t start (or end) with surgery.
Before a transplant, children often face frequent hospital stays, intensive treatments like dialysis, and long periods of waiting filled with uncertainty. After a transplant, life can still be complex. Kids live with a compromised immune system, which means avoiding everyday risks that most families don’t think twice about. There’s medication to prevent organ rejection, serious medication side effects, and visible differences like hair loss, “steroid belly,” and scars.
For many children, this results in missed school, childhood activities, and time with friends. It can mean feeling isolated, different, and unsure about what the future holds.
For many children, this results in missed school, childhood activities, and time with friends. It can mean feeling isolated, different, and unsure about what the future holds.
Where Everything Changes
SeriousFun camps are intentionally designed to help children living with serious medical conditions—including kids who are awaiting or who have undergone transplants—find belonging, rebuild confidence, and cultivate lifelong resilience.
Here, teams of volunteer doctors and adaptive camp programming create a rare, medically safe environment where kids with complex medical needs can thrive.
Children who have never met another child with a transplant are suddenly surrounded by peers who understand their journey without explanation. No bullying. No judgement. Campers spend rare time away from home, try new activities, and experience independence in ways that are not possible elsewhere.
For many kids, this is where something shifts: They realize they are not alone and that they belong. They build new trust in their abilities. They find new identity beyond their diagnosis. And they reimagine what’s possible—that life can be bigger.
Transplants save lives. Camp helps kids live them.
Outcomes That Last Beyond Camp
The best part? These camp experiences stay with kids for life.
Research shows that more than 8 in 10 SeriousFun alumni credit their camp experience with increased confidence and stronger friendship skills, even years later as adults.
These are not one-time moments. They are part of a consistent, evidence-based model that promotes lifelong health, wellbeing, and resilience.
This month, you’ll meet campers Delilah and Kateri—two children whose lives have been shaped by transplant journeys. Read on to see how camp changed everything for Delilah, Kateri, and their entire families.
Stories of Transformation
See how SeriousFun camp experiences lead to confidence, connection, and lasting change in the lives of campers.
A congenital liver disorder and transplant made Delilah’s world feel small. Camp helped her build confidence, independence, and connection in ways her family never expected.
A liver transplant made Kateri feel like an outcast. Camp helped her find where she belongs.
You Can Help Change Everything For Kids Living With Serious Illnesses
Camp can shift how a child sees themselves and their future. Your support helps make that experience possible.