Transplant Team

Need gifts for your organ transplant gift basket? We have care packages for kidney transplant, liver transplant, heart transplant and lung transplant. Heart pillow great for post-op chest compressions and cough pillow after surgery. Living organ donors will squeal when you "give back" with a plush kidney!

If you can't donate a real organ, you can at least donate a fake one, we have all the organs to donate without the surgery or self-sacrifice! Which organs can be transplanted? Well, you can have a heart transplant, liver transplant and lung transplant. Organs you can give as a living donor includes kidney, uterus and part of your liver. And you can donate blood! You need the rest of your organs, so don't give them away (you can give your heart, but only metaphorically). Also pancreas transplants have come a long way! Cadaver donations also include eyeball transplants and colon transplants.

Perhaps you have heard of face transplants, but have you heard of penis transplants? Yep, that's a thing. Also uterus transplants are pretty rare, but recently a woman gave birth following a uterus donation from a cadaver. Ah, science.

Are cough pillows actually useful? If you’ve ever experienced a sternotomy procedure, then you’re probably familiar with a cough pillow, aka heart/ cardiac pillow, aka therapeutic pillow. Whatever it’s called, they’re often given to post-procedure patients with the intent of relieving pain and providing support when the patient coughs or sneezes-- essential to keeping the lungs clear and for preventing pneumonia.

Many medical professionals will instruct the patient to hug the pillow over the incision to relieve pain. This practice has been taught since chest and abdominal surgeries first debuted, but with so many technological advances since then, is it time we go back to the drawing board on this one? Are cough pillows really as effective as we once thought?

Some of our own customers agree that cough pillows can bring a great deal of comfort, both emotionally and physically. Raenell M. writes that she got our I Got the Beat Heart Plush as a cough pillow for her mom which was a hit with her doctors as well: “My mom had a heart procedure done and really needed a pillow for recovery. I could not resist this heart pillow; we have a great sense of humor. The doctor loved it too and asked where I got it. He thought they would be good to give heart patients after surgery especially children because of the size. The pillow is just the right size for my mom, it is super soft, and is small enough to drag around in her purse to all of her appointments. This was a huge hit in the cardio dept. at the hospital.”

Are cardiac pillows beneficial to a swift physical recovery? Maybe, maybe not; no scientific evidence has definitively pointed for or against them. But if it brings at least emotional comfort to post-op patients, well that’s all the evidence we need.