The 2024 DASH for Organ Donor Awareness will be held on Sunday, April 28, 2024 at the Philadelphia Art Museum. Register to participate or make a donation. Every year, 10,000+ transplant recipients, donors, friends and families of patients, and staff members from transplant centers and donor hospitals. Each participant has a special story for why they Dash, and we want to know yours!
Margaret’s Story
Margaret Leid, Senior Physician Liaison at the Penn Transplant Institute, says she has several reasons for participating in the Donor Dash. Before joining the Penn Transplant Institute team, she served as a Hospital Services Coordinator at Gift of Life Donor Program. As a long-term transplant professional, organ and tissue donation and transplantation are important to her — but this year she feels there’s all the more reason to participate.
Margaret says, “Before I met my husband, my father-in-law received a liver transplant thanks to the generosity of a donor family. The transplant was very successful, allowing my father-in-law to celebrate his grandkids’ graduation from both high school and college, to be there for my husband’s and my wedding, and to experience the joy of the birth of his first great-grandchild.”
Her father-in-law passed away in July of 2022, and Margaret says she wants to Dash this year to honor his memory and the legacy of his organ donor. “It’s bittersweet, for sure,” says Margaret. “But, I think it’s more important than ever to celebrate my father-in-law’s life, honor his donor, and do what I can to help raise funds that support organ donor awareness so even more people can benefit from this great gift of life.”
Why Do You Dash?
We welcome you to share why you’re planning to Dash in 2024! Email your story (ideally 800 to 1,200 words) and picture to Denny DuPont, Manager of Communication and Outreach at the Penn Transplant Institute, at Denise.DuPont@pennmedicine.upenn.edu. We can’t wait to hear why you Dash!