Every transplant is a new beginning. Help us protect it.

Shepherd Transplant Foundation was born from something deeply personal to our family.

Years ago, my uncle received a transplant. I understood the importance of the surgery, but I never fully understood everything that came with it, the travel, follow-up appointments, medications, time away from work, and the impact on the entire family.

Today, I understand it in a way I never expected.

My wife, Shelli, is currently awaiting a liver transplant. Spending days and nights beside her in the hospital has allowed me to meet and talk with other transplant patients and their families. I have listened to their stories, their struggles, and the everyday challenges they face before, during, and after transplant.

Those conversations changed me.

Our family recognizes how incredibly blessed we are. While we are experiencing the same uncertainty, fear, and emotional challenges of the transplant journey, we know we will not face many of the financial hardships that other families face.

We have been blessed, and we believe our blessings give us an opportunity and a responsibility to bless others.

That belief became the heart of Shepherd Transplant Foundation. We want to help families with the everyday expenses that don't stop during a transplant—medications, groceries, utilities, transportation, lodging, and rent or mortgage payments—so they can focus more of their energy on the person they love.

Our faith reminds us that we are called to care for one another. Shepherd is our family's way of answering that call.

Our family's journey became our reason to help others through theirs.

Give monthly

Prescriptions We Aim to Cover this Year

Covers medication, travel, and recovery — the costs insurance stops paying.

$30 a month keeps a patient on their meds.

Monthly gifts are the lifeline that let us say "yes" to a family the moment they need us.

The transplant doesn't end the journey. We help families survive what comes next.

A transplant saves a life — but the costs that follow can break a family. Anti-rejection medication alone can run thousands of dollars a month. We step in where insurance stops.

Three pillars of support.

Medication Aid

Grants that cover life-sustaining immunosuppressants so patients never have to ration the drugs keeping their organ alive.

Lodging & Travel

Help with hotels, fuel, and meals for families forced to travel hundreds of miles to one of the few hospitals that can treat them.

Essential Support

We help families manage essential everyday expenses including rent or mortgage payments, utilities, groceries, transportation, and other basic needs so they can focus on what matters most: healing and recovery.

Explore our programs

What a monthly gift actually covers.

Medication that cannot lapse

Anti-rejection medication alone can run thousands of dollars a month. Missing doses puts the transplanted organ at risk, so this is the cost that can never be deferred.

Distance to the only hospital that can help

Families travel hundreds of miles to one of the few centers equipped to treat them — then do it again for follow-up, for months.

A household held together

Caseworkers, peer mentors, and a community that understands the road to recovery — the support that keeps a family intact while someone gets well.

When the unimaginable becomes survivable.

Behind every transplant is a family rearranged by hope, fear, and the long wait. Our work is rooted in those stories — and in the people who taught us what real support looks like.

Read patient stories