Meredith's Story

One Life. Countless Lives Touched. A Legacy That Lives On.

For Meredith Haga, receiving the gift of life was never simply a second chance. It was an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others.

Following her life-saving kidney transplant, Meredith embraced each day with gratitude, purpose, and an unwavering commitment to organ and tissue donation. She understood firsthand the extraordinary impact one person's generosity could have on another's life, and she made it her mission to share that message with the world.

Meredith didn't just receive the gift of life. She dedicated her life to helping others experience that same gift.

A Life Filled with Purpose

While attending Sweet Briar College in Virginia, Meredith became a passionate advocate for Donate Life. Whether speaking to civic organizations, visiting schools, attending sporting events, or addressing community gatherings, she welcomed every opportunity to share her transplant journey. If someone offered her a stage, Meredith was ready to tell her story.

Her message was simple but powerful: organ donation saves lives, and each of us has the ability to make a difference.

Meredith approached life with the same enthusiasm she brought to her advocacy. She graduated with honors from Sweet Briar College, married, built meaningful friendships, and pursued a career centered on the cause closest to her heart.

For Meredith, these weren't simply milestones. They were moments made possible by the extraordinary generosity of a living organ donor.

Turning Gratitude into a Calling

Meredith's passion for organ donation became more than a personal mission. It became her life's work.

Her professional journey began with an internship at DCI Donor Services in Nashville, Tennessee. There, she discovered how deeply she valued working with individuals and families whose lives had been touched by organ donation.

Following graduation, Meredith joined Tennessee Donor Services as the Public Education Coordinator for East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. Traveling throughout the region, she shared her personal story, educated communities about the importance of donation, and encouraged everyone she met to "Sign Up and Save Lives."

But Meredith wanted to do even more.

Driven by her desire to make a direct impact, she accepted a position with LifeNet Health in Richmond, Virginia, as an Organ Recovery Coordinator. In this role, Meredith helped make life-saving transplants possible, traveling across the country to help bring donated organs to the patients who desperately needed them.

The young woman who had once depended on the generosity of an organ donor was now helping deliver that same extraordinary gift to others.

It was more than a career. It was a calling.

Living Every Moment to the Fullest

Life after transplantation is a journey of both hope and uncertainty. Transplant recipients must navigate the challenges of lifelong medications, weakened immune systems, and the ever-present possibility of organ rejection.

Yet for many recipients, the gift of additional time brings a renewed appreciation for life's simplest and most meaningful moments.

Meredith embodied that spirit.

She embraced opportunities, pursued her dreams, celebrated life's milestones, and gave generously of her time and talents. She understood the value of every day because she knew what it meant to be given more of them.

In the six years following her transplant, Meredith filled her life with purpose, love, laughter, and service. She accomplished so much, touched countless hearts, and inspired others to recognize the precious gift of life.

Meredith measured the value of life not simply by the years she was given, but by what she could do with them.

A Legacy of Love and Hope

In the fall of 2017, Meredith contracted seasonal influenza, which developed into serious complications, including sepsis and Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP). For someone living with a suppressed immune system following transplantation, these illnesses presented tremendous challenges.

Despite her courage and determination, Meredith passed away in July 2018.

Even in death, Meredith continued to give.

Her corneas were donated to help restore another person's sight, and her lungs were donated to Vanderbilt Medical Center to support research into immunosuppression. These final gifts reflected the generosity and compassion that had defined her life.

Meredith's story, however, did not end there.

To honor her memory and continue the work she loved so deeply, Bruce Blessing, the living kidney donor who had given Meredith her second chance at life, established the Meredith Haga Foundation.

Built upon Meredith's unwavering belief in the power of organ donation, the Foundation carries her legacy forward by helping living organ donors overcome the financial hardships that can accompany their extraordinary decision to save another person's life.

Through financial assistance and compassionate support, the Foundation works to ease the burdens of living donation so that those who give a piece of themselves to save another life can focus on their own recovery.

Her Life Was a Gift. Her Legacy Is Our Mission.

Meredith believed that one person could make a difference. She proved it through the life she lived, the people she inspired, and the countless moments she devoted to helping others.

Today, every living donor the Meredith Haga Foundation helps is another opportunity to carry her compassion forward.

Every financial burden eased, every donor supported, and every life touched honors the remarkable young woman whose gratitude became a calling and whose calling became a lasting legacy.

Meredith's life reminds us that the greatest way to honor the gift of life is to share it with others.

Her love lives on. Her hope continues. Her legacy inspires everything we do.