Every transplant begins with two stories.

One story is about hope for a person whose failing heart, lungs, liver or kidneys is given a second chance at life.

The other story is about unimaginable loss experienced by a family member who, in the midst of grief, chooses to give someone else that chance.

LaShawn Taylor holds up her big at Lifebanc's Gift of Life Walk & Run.For one morning each August, those stories come together.

On Sunday, Aug. 23, Lifebanc, the nonprofit organ, eye, and tissue recovery organization serving Northeast Ohio, and thousands of donor families, transplant recipients, living donors, healthcare professionals, and supporters, will gather at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls for the 27^th annual Gift of Life Walk & Run.

More than a fundraiser or community celebration, the event is a reunion of lives forever connected by organ, eye, and tissue donation.

For Lifebanc CEO Katie Payne, that's what makes the day unlike any other.

"One of the things this work teaches you is that every transplant has two stories," she says. "There is the joy of a life being saved, and there is the incredible generosity of a family that chose to help others during one of the hardest moments imaginable. The Gift of Life Walk & Run is one of the few places where both of those stories are honored together."

The annual event features a 5K race, a one-mile Family Fun Walk, live entertainment, food trucks, family activities and the popular T-Shirt Row, where teams celebrate loved ones while raising money to support Lifebanc's donor family services, community education, and advocacy efforts.

The day concludes with the Legacy Garden Program, where participants honor organ donors through photographs, personal tributes and a butterfly release.

The need for organ donors remains urgent. More than 100,000 people nationwide—including more than 1,300 in Northeast Ohio—are currently waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant. Every donor has the potential to save multiple lives and help dozens more through tissue and cornea donation.

For Hudson resident Griff Hill, those numbers represent people whose lives could change as suddenly as his own life changed.

In early 2014, Hill underwent what was expected to be a routine lung biopsy after being diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, a disease that progressively scars the lungs and makes breathing increasingly difficult.

Griff's Grateful Gang members participate in Lifebanc's Gift of Life Walk & Run.Instead of being routine, the biopsy triggered a catastrophic reaction.

"I just bottomed out during the biopsy," Hill recalls. "I never left the Cleveland Clinic. They took me directly in and over a couple weeks, I received the transplant."

His condition deteriorated so rapidly that doctors placed him on ECMO, Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, a machine that oxygenates the blood when the lungs no longer can.

Hill slipped into a coma while his wife, Linda, his children, and a circle of family and friends waited anxiously at Cleveland Clinic.

"I was on ECMO, I was hanging upside down,” he says. “I was last minute. They were about to take me off the [transplant] list because everything was shutting down."

Then, a matching pair of donor lungs became available and Hill received a double lung transplant.

More than 12 years later, Hill has transformed that second chance into a mission of gratitude.

Just months after his March 2014 transplant, he and Linda attended their first Gift of Life Walk & Run. The experience of meeting both fellow transplant recipients and donor families changed them.

"We were just blown away at the whole event—meeting other transplant recipients like myself, but more importantly, meeting donor families and what they've gone through with their loved ones being a donor," Hill says. "It just blew my wife and me away. It was heartwarming. It was emotional. It was all those things wrapped up."

The following year they created Griff's Grateful Gang. What started as an excuse to gather friends around a shared sense of gratitude has become one of the event's most successful fundraising teams, raising nearly $150,000 for Lifebanc over the past decade.

But the fundraising isn't what keeps Hill coming back each year.

"That's another reason why we do the walk," he says. "It's a way for me to honor my donor and their family."

Although he has never learned the identity of the person whose lungs saved his life, Hill feels connected to every donor family he meets. Each year he visits the Legacy Garden, where photos and messages celebrate those whose final gift gave others a future.

"I understand 100% because that was the worst day in that family's life," Hill says. "They lost somebody they loved, and I was able to live because of it."

But not every transplant story begins with tragedy.

For husband and wife LaShawn Taylor and Freeman Mahone, LaShawn’s transplant journey began with love and a decision to help someone they had never met.

After living with kidney disease for nearly 20 years, LaShawn learned she would need a kidney transplant.

Freeman immediately volunteered to donate one of his kidneys, but testing revealed they weren't compatible. Rather than giving up, Freeman enrolled in a paired kidney exchange program.

His kidney would go to a stranger in Atlanta. In return, another living donor's kidney would be flown from Seattle to Cleveland for LaShawn.

Doctors later told Freeman that his decision became the first link in a chain that ultimately helped seven transplant recipients.

Social time at Lifebanc's Gift of Life Walk & Run.“I went behind her back and I started the [paired kidney exchange] process,” Freeman admits. "Once everything came back good... I just sort of pulled the trigger."

On a snowy February morning in 2023, the couple arrived together at Cleveland Clinic.

"When we got to the sliding doors, we looked at each other, and we were like, 'Okay, are we ready?'" LaShawn recalls.

Today, the couple shares their story to encourage others to consider organ donation, especially within the African American community, where misconceptions and lower donor registration rates can make finding matches even more difficult.

LaShawn understands those misconceptions because she once believed them herself.

"I also was one that was against being an organ donor," she shares. "I didn't put it on my license... and then it happened to me."

Freeman hopes their story encourages others to think differently.

"I can't watch somebody I love suffering, and not doing anything to help," he says. "Now if I can do something to help, I'm going to help."

For Lifebanc’s Payne, the stories of Hill, LaShawn, and Freeman underscore why conversations about organ donation matter long before families face a medical crisis.

Freeman Mahone in front of their shadow box."No one plans to need an organ transplant, and no family ever expects to be faced with a donation decision," Payne says. "Yet every day, people in our community find themselves living one of those realities. That's why it's so important to talk about organ donation before a crisis. The conversations we have today can make all the difference for someone tomorrow."

On Sunday, Aug. 23, thousands of Northeast Ohioans will gather once again at Blossom Music Center, wearing matching team shirts, embracing old friends, and remembering loved ones.

Some will be celebrating the extra years they've been given. Others will be honoring someone whose final act made those years possible.

"Being an organ donor is being a hero," declares Hill. "Especially a deceased donor. The last thing that person does on this earth is they become a hero and they save somebody's life. What a great thing to be [while] heading out of this world, be a lifesaver."

As Gift of Life participants make their way through the Legacy Garden, they'll be reminded that every photograph represents a family who said yes to organ donation, every transplant recipient represents a life made possible by that gift, and every conversation about organ donation has the potential to write another story of hope.

Every transplant begins with two stories.

One story is about hope for a person whose failing heart, lungs, liver or kidneys is given a second chance at life.

The other story is about unimaginable loss experienced by a family member who, in the midst of grief, chooses to give someone else that chance.

For one morning each August, those stories come together.

Event details
Lifebanc’s annual Gift of Life Walk & Run on Sunday, Aug. 23 at Blossom Music Center

will feature a 5K race and one-mile Family Fun Walk, along with live entertainment, family-friendly activities, food trucks, music and the popular T-Shirt Row.

TheCavs mascot, Moondog.The Cleveland Cavaliers will bring additional excitement to this year’s event with Cavs arena host Ahmaad Crump, Fox 8 News anchor Stefani Schaefer, and 92.3 The Fan host Andy Baskin, who will serve as emcees.

The Cavs mascot, Moondog, the Cavs Entertainment Team, and a Cavaliers legend will make special appearances throughout the day.

The Cavaliers have also launched Team Cavs to help raise donation awareness and support. Fans who join Team Cavs will receive a Team Cavs T-shirt and be entered for a chance to win a Cavaliers prize package.

“We’re honored to have the Cleveland Cavaliers join us in supporting the Gift of Life Walk & Run,” Payne says. “Through Team Cavs, fans can celebrate the lifesaving impact of donation while helping raise funds and awareness for a cause that connects our entire community.”

The morning will conclude with the Legacy Garden Program, featuring a butterfly release, photos of donors and recipients, and a dedicated space for reflection to honor those who have given, received, or are still waiting for the gift of life.

Proceeds from the event support community education initiatives, donor family support services, and advocacy efforts encouraging organ donation registration throughout Northeast Ohio.

Gift of Life highlights

• 7:30 a.m.: Gates open and activities begin
• 9 a.m.: Live show followed by the start of the one-mile Family Fun Walk and 5K Race
• 10 a.m.: Race results announced and Legacy Garden Program begins

Registration and additional event information are available on the Gift of Life event page.