Introducing the Reconstructive Transplant Peer Network

The Reconstructive Transplant Peer Network is the first community-based resource for people with transplants of the hand, face, penis, larynx, or abdominal wall. We started as a group for hand transplant patients in early 2020, then realizing how much we had to share about the uniqueness of the VCA experience, invited people with other reconstructive transplant types to join us for our monthly Zoom meetings.

We are now starting a 501c3 organization to more formally support VCA patient families with material and educational resources relevant to the lifelong care of these complex organ grafts - but our most valuable resource is each other. Because the reconstructive transplantation field is small with fewer than 300 patients in the whole world having received a VCA, our individual recovery narratives are meaningful and instructive to the entire field.

As the first peer knowledge-building community where multiple VCA patients and their families are collecting and comparing their unique narratives, we are helping to write the patient history of VCA. Our blog will post updates from our monthly meetings, and other news from the RTPN including meetup and event news. Check back soon for our podcast, where we will be telling our stories of injury, survival, transformative surgery and recovery.