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Community Corner

Heart Transplant Recipient From Hillsborough Competes With Team Liberty

Heart transplant recipient and Hillsborough resident, Joe DiSanto, will join more than 20 others from New Jersey at this year’s Transplant Games of America, which celebrates the life-saving value of organ and tissue donation.

The 2014 Transplant Games of America will be in Houston, July 11-15.

Eight years ago, when Joe was eleven, his life was turned upside down. He had gone to the doctor for a routine check up and left diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, or an enlarged heart. An active athlete, Joe had to give up all sports because of his condition. On July 8, 2006, he was given a second chance at life.

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“A family made a brave decision at a difficult time to donate life and I am thankful every day for the gift they gave me,” Joe says of his heart transplant.

Joe, along with the rest of Team Liberty, will be heading to Houston for the Transplant Games of America this week. He has taken home medals from previous Transplant Games of America. He even won a bronze medal in ball throw at the World Transplant Games in Australia.

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The Transplant Games of America is a multi-sport festival event that highlights the critical importance of organ, eye and tissue donation. Organ recipients, living donors and donor families come together to honor those who gave the gift of life; and to celebrate those who received a second chance at life.

“The best part is that everyone there is celebrating life and showing that transplants are successful and save lives. I can’t wait to see old friends, and meet new ones at the Transplant Games in Houston as we all come together, once again, to celebrate life,” says Joe.

Team Liberty, a program of NJ Sharing Network, the non-profit organization responsible for recovering organs and tissue  in Central and Northern New Jersey, comes together at the Transplant Games of America, and year round, to promote the success of organ transplantation, and to raise awareness for the urgent need of organ and tissue donation. Nearly 5,000 people in New Jersey are waiting for life-saving organs.

Team Liberty honors the legacy and generosity of donors and their families. They come from New York City, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, Northern and Central New Jersey, and Fairfield County, Connecticut. The men, women, and children of Team Liberty embody incredible spirit, courage, energy, inspiration, humor, sportsmanship, and friendship.

To learn more, get involved and register as an organ and tissue donor, visit www.NJSharingNetwork.org or call NJ Sharing Network at 1-800-742-7365.

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About NJ Sharing Network

NJ Sharing Network is a non-profit, federally designated organization responsible for the recovery and placement of donated organs and tissue for New Jersey residents in need of life-saving transplants. NJ Sharing Network partners with Donate Life America, a not-for-profit national alliance that drives communities to increase their numbers of registered donors. NJ Sharing Network honors those who gave, pays tribute to those who received, offers hope to those who continue to wait, and remembers the lives lost while waiting...for the gift of life.

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