Happy 30th Anniversary OTS! 1990 - 2020

This year in 2020 Organ Transplant Support, Inc. will celebrate the 30th anniversary of our non-profit organization.  Organ Transplant Support (OTS) was formed in the summer of 1990 by Don and Rose LaRocco and Bill and Sally Phillips. Don and Bill were both transplant recipients. Bill Phillips received a kidney/pancreas transplant in 1988 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  Don LaRocco received also a kidney/pancreas transplant in 1989 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  

Bill Phillips and Don LaRocco were introduced to each other by their Naperville, Illinois nephrologist, and they started sharing their experiences waiting for an organ and living as a transplant recipient.  Both men felt there was a need for a support group for transplant recipients and for those waiting for a transplant.   

Both couples agreed that the support they had given each other made their transplant journeys easier. Both couples agreed that their journeys became easier because of each other's support and strength.  They felt a support group should be formed to assist others on this road. 

The first monthly meeting of Organ Transplant Support took place with a small group of transplant recipients on September 7, 1990. Membership within the first year exceeded 100. 

Organ Transplant Support, Inc. is proud to continue the tradition started by Bill Phillips and Don LaRocco 30 years ago, when organ transplantation was much different than today.  OTS has had many dedicated volunteers who did the hard work to build OTS into a 501C3 non-profit organization in the early years, and  then helped OTS to grow into a leading transplant organization it is today.   We owe a debt of gratitude to the transplant recipients who were leaders at OTS in the early years along with Don LaRocco and Bill Philllips,  such as Bill Hector, Bud Brown, Bill Schmit, Rich McMahan, Mary Jane Bollinger, and many more.  We are excited to celebrate this special 30th anniversary all year long with ongoing articles in the OTS newsletter and also on the OTS website.