Transplant Games Of America Head To Colorado In 90 Days As Donor Alliance Urges More Donations For 1,300

Denver Prepares To Host Transplant Games Of America With 12,000 Expected

USA: With fewer than 100 days until kickoff, Denver is preparing to welcome the Transplant Games of America for the first time, an Olympic-style celebration of transplantation that organizers expect will draw roughly 12,000 participants. The event brings together transplant recipients, living donors and donor families for competition, fellowship and awareness-raising across roughly 22 events.

Team Rocky Mountain is assembling athletes and supporters from Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, including long-time participant Andrew Menard, who received a kidney 12 years ago and has competed in the Games for a decade. Menard and others credit community support for helping them return to everyday life after transplantation and for fueling advocacy work to expand donation.

Thursday’s ceremonial flag signing marked the 90-day countdown in Colorado and underscored local urgency: about 1,300 people in the state remain on waiting lists while roughly 600 transplants are performed there each year. Donor Alliance and partnering institutions have pledged stepped-up outreach to increase organ donation registrations and improve procurement processes.

Organizers frame the Games, held every two years, as both competition and the world’s largest single celebration of life for the transplant community. With Team Rocky Mountain training and awareness campaigns ramping up, local advocates say the Denver gathering aims to convert attention into more registered donors and stronger support for transplantation services statewide.

Video originally published on 2026-03-22 15:16:16