Let’s Talk Transplants
A weekly transplant support group for people who understand the wait, the surgery, the recovery, and the weird hospital humor that somehow gets you through it.
Whether you are waiting for a transplant, recovering from one, years into life after transplant, or walking beside someone you love, you do not have to figure this out alone.
The Wednesday Night Organ Transplant Support Group — WNSG — brings transplant candidates, recipients, caregivers, and family members together every week for honest conversation, practical encouragement, and peer support from people who have lived the journey.
Wednesdays at 6:00 PM Pacific / 8:00 PM Central / 9:00 PM Eastern
Join the Wednesday Zoom
For Mentor Support
WNSG
Real Support From People Who Have Been There
Transplant can feel overwhelming long before surgery ever happens. There are appointments, tests, new words, new fears, and the quiet stress of wondering what life will look like on the other side.
WNSG exists for the human side of transplant.
This is peer-to-peer support for people facing kidney, liver, pancreas, lung, and heart transplantation — before transplant, after transplant, and everywhere in between.
You can ask questions. You can listen quietly. You can laugh. You can talk about the hard parts without having to explain why they are hard.
The group is friendly, practical, and honest. Nobody needs a perfect speech. Nobody needs to pretend they are not scared. And nobody is required to understand all the acronyms before showing up.
What Happens on Wednesday Nights
Every Wednesday evening, WNSG meets on Zoom for an open peer-support conversation.
People join from different places and different stages of transplant life. Some are waiting. Some are newly transplanted. Some are decades out. Some are caregivers trying to support someone they love. Everyone brings a piece of the map.
The group is built around conversation, not lectures. You will hear lived experience, practical tips, encouragement, and the kind of straight talk that is hard to find in a brochure.
The last Wednesday of each month gives special attention to people who are pre-transplant and preparing for what comes next.
Join any Wednesday. Stay for the whole meeting or just come listen.
Meeting Time: Wednesdays, 6:00 PM Pacific / 8:00 PM Central / 9:00 PM Eastern
One-on-One Mentor Support
Sometimes a group is exactly what you need. Sometimes you need one person who has walked the road before you.
WNSG offers informal one-on-one peer mentor conversations with transplant recipients and experienced volunteers. These are not clinical consultations. They are human conversations — the kind that can help you feel less alone, less overwhelmed, and more prepared for the next step.
Mentor conversations may help you talk through questions such as:
- What is it like waiting for transplant?
- How do people manage the fear and uncertainty?
- What helped after surgery?
- What should caregivers understand?
- How do people adjust to life after transplant?
WNSG
Founded From Lived Experience
WNSG was built by people who know transplant from the inside.
Jim Hills, a former Long Beach Detective, developed liver disease and later kidney disease after a cirrhosis diagnosis. After receiving a transplant at Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Jim began working with other transplant recipients in the Los Angeles area to provide education, encouragement, and support.
What began as a small weekly gathering of four people has grown into a nationwide peer-support community of more than 100 members.
The heart of the group has stayed the same: show up, tell the truth, help the next person, and keep enough humor in the room to survive the hard parts.
What People Say About WNSG
The best description of WNSG comes from the people who show up.
Members often describe the group as a place where transplant stops feeling so isolating — a place to ask real questions, hear from people who have been through it, and find some humor in a process that can otherwise feel heavy.
Some come looking for practical guidance. Some come because they are scared. Some come because a caregiver needs support too. Many stay because the group feels like a room full of people who understand without needing a long explanation.
Have a WNSG experience you would like to share?
We welcome brief testimonials from transplant candidates, recipients, and caregivers who want to help others know what to expect when they join.
OTS Support
Recommended by Organ Transplant Support
WNSG / Let’s Talk Transplants has been recommended by Organ Transplant Support as a trusted weekly peer-support space for transplant patients and caregivers.
The focus of this site remains WNSG and Let’s Talk Transplants: a direct, practical, welcoming support space for people navigating transplant before and after surgery.
Who is Welcome
WNSG welcomes:
- People waiting for a kidney, liver, pancreas, lung, or heart transplant
- Transplant recipients at any stage of recovery or long-term life after transplant
- Caregivers, spouses, partners, family members, and close friends
- People who are scared, curious, confused, tired, hopeful, or all of the above
No medical vocabulary test required. No inspirational speech required. Just come as you are.
No Cost to Join
WNSG and mentor services are provided without charge, of course.
This group exists to help people feel informed, supported, and less alone during one of the most intense experiences of their lives.
Important Medical Note
WNSG / Let’s Talk Transplants provides peer support, lived-experience education, and practical encouragement. We do not provide medical advice, diagnosis, treatment recommendations, or transplant-center guidance.
Always follow the advice of your transplant team, physicians, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, and other licensed medical professionals.
Peer support can help you ask better questions, feel less alone, and prepare emotionally for the journey. Your medical team remains the authority for your care
WNSP
Join Us This Wednesday
You do not have to go through transplant alone.
Bring your questions. Bring your caregiver. Bring your nerves. Bring your post-transplant stories. Bring the hospital socks if they make you feel official.
We meet every Wednesday.