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April is National Donate Life Month, a time to raise awareness about organ, eye and tissue donation, and to encourage organ donation registration. It's also a time to honor organ donors who have saved countless lives with the ultimate act of generosity.
The need for life-saving organ transplants for children in Utah and across the nation has never been greater. More than 2,000 children in the United States are currently awaiting an organ for transplantation.
Intermountain Health Primary Children's Transplant Program, in partnership with University of Utah Health, is working to change that as one of the top pediatric transplant programs in the nation.
The Intermountain Primary Children's Transplant Program had a record year in 2025, performing 18 pediatric heart transplants last year (third most in the nation) and 21 pediatric liver transplants (sixth most in the nation).
"That's a huge milestone – 21 liver transplants and 18 heart transplants performed in 2025," said Zach Kastenberg, MD, pediatric liver transplant surgeon at University of Utah Health and Intermountain Health Primary Children's Hospital. "This doesn't happen without an entire hospital behind it. There's not a corner of Primary Children's Hospital that doesn't support our liver and heart transplant patients and families. We're very grateful for their support."
One caregiver on the Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital Transplant team took the challenge to help those in need personally, and on August 28, 2024, donated part of her liver to help a patient waiting for a liver transplant.
"Seeing the daily need for organ donation through my work was a big part of my decision to become a living organ donor," said Madeline Baggett, a caregiver with the Intermountain Health Primary Children's Transplant Program. "Often patients' families will step up and a relative will donate, but there are some patients who don't have family members who are able or willing to donate, and I knew I could help at least one person who didn't have people in their lives who were a match."
Baggett's donation of part of her liver made a huge difference and helped save a life and she is now back to full health – with a full liver that has regrown to replace the part that she donated.
It really has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. Our bodies are truly amazing and seeing how giving a small piece of mine was able to help someone else truly is life changing.
–Madeline Baggett, caregiver and living organ donor
"It really has been one of the greatest experiences of my life," she said. "Our bodies are truly amazing and seeing how giving a small piece of mine was able to help someone else truly is life changing."
The Intermountain Primary Children's Transplant Program has performed heart transplants since 1991 and liver transplants since 1996, and it has one of the most successful pediatric transplant programs in the nation. It has performed 350 total liver transplants and 267 total heart transplants during its history.
"Our program is nationally recognized for high-volume pediatric heart and liver transplants combining advanced innovation – including a robust VAD (ventricular assist device) and living donor liver program – with exceptional outcomes, rigorous quality oversight, and deeply family-centered care," said Jean Botha, MD, an Intermountain Health transplant surgeon and medical director of the Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital Transplant Program, as well as the Intermountain Adult Transplant Program at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray.
In addition to Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital Transplant Program's record year in 2025, Intermountain's Adult Transplant Program also performed a record number of transplants last year.
The Intermountain Health Adult Transplant performed 515 organ transplants last year, shattering their previous record of 489 transplants performed in 2024, and surpassing the 500-transplant milestone for the first time in Utah history.
While improved technology, innovations, and enhanced care have led to some of the top clinical outcomes in the nation, Botha said the greatest challenge remains the shortage of donor organs – especially for children, who often require size-matched organs.
More than 100,000 people in the United States are waiting for a life-saving organ transplant, yet children account for only about 2 percent of the national waiting list.
Despite their small numbers, pediatric patients – especially children under five years old – face the highest risk of death while waiting for a transplant compared to any other age group, largely due to the scarcity of size-matched organs.
Because of that, Botha said more organs are desperately needed to help children in need. In some cases, those organs can come from living adult donors.
"Pediatric transplantation saves lives, but it depends entirely on the generosity of donors and families who choose to give the gift of life," Botha said. "By learning about organ donation, registering as a donor, and sharing that decision with loved ones, each of us can help ensure that more children have the chance to grow up, thrive, and live full lives."
Utah transplant patients and their families recently joined with clinicians from the program, which is the only pediatric transplant program in the Intermountain West, to raise awareness about the vital need for organ donation for children – while also celebrating donors and children who have been transplanted.
To learn more about pediatric transplants at Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital and being a living organ donor, click here.
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