Organ procurement organizations merge to become Infinite Legacy

The Baltimore-based Living Legacy Foundation of Maryland (The LLF) and Washington Regional Transplant Community (WRTC) Wednesday announced its merger to become Infinite Legacy, an organ procurement organization (OPO) serving nearly 10 million people in Maryland, northern Virginia and Washington.

The merger comes as both former organizations, as well as the U.S. organ donation system, saw high-performing organ and tissue recovery numbers in 2022, including several records broken. In 2022, Infinite Legacy staff recovered organs from 323 deceased donor heroes and helped facilitate 904 transplants, which contributed to saving the lives of 788 people.

In addition, Infinite Legacy staff facilitated 1,985 gifts from 1,037 eye and tissue donors, enhancing the lives of up to 77,775 people. These patients received corneas to restore sight, skin to heal burns, heart valves to repair defects, bones to correct injuries and tendons/ligaments to restore movement. Staff also recovered and allocated 384 organs, eyes and tissues for vital medical research and assisted with 47 living kidney donor surgeries at local transplant centers.

Meanwhile, the U.S. exceeded 42,800 total organ transplants performed in 2022, which included over 25,000 kidney transplants and also record numbers of liver, heart and lung transplants according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. Additionally, almost 15,000 people became deceased donors, the twelfth consecutive record-setting year.