Feeling Grateful: Amanda Sabol’s Transplant Inspires a Community

Amanda Sabol is feeling much better following her life-saving organ transplant a few months ago. The Baraboo woman is feeling grateful and more determined than ever to raise awareness and challenge assumptions that often surround organ failure. She is choosing to speak out for the first time during National Donate Life Month. Amanda sat down with David Grant at the local Civic Media radio station, MAX FM, and in this third and final segment of her amazing story, she hopes her transplant inspires a community to be a donor.

If just one person becomes a donor because they heard my story, that’s everything.

Amanda Sabol, Organ Donation Recipient

“You never think you’ll be the one who needs an organ,” Amanda says. “You assume there’s a fix—some pill, some answer. But when I got sick, there wasn’t a clear diagnosis. And when people couldn’t name what was wrong, they started asking why I was sick—as if I did something wrong.”

Amanda speaks candidly about the stigma faced by those in need of a transplant. And unlike other major medical conditions like cancer or burn injuries, she feels dealing with organ failure often prompts unfair judgment. 

“No one asks someone who has cancer what they did to get it,” she explains. “But if you need a liver or kidney, suddenly the assumption is that you didn’t take care of yourself. That’s simply not true.”

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Listen to part three of David’s interview with Amanda here:

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Thanks to the care she received at UW Hospital in Madison, Amanda is now three months into recovery and is thriving. UW is the national leader in kidney transplants and recently published a study exploring transplants without the use of traditional anti-rejection medications. It’s the kind of progress that gives Amanda hope—not just for herself, but for future recipients.

“It’s a living science,” she says. “The doctors are doing incredible work, but there’s not always time to talk about it. That’s where we, as a community, come in. We can be the voice that spreads the message.”

Amanda knows the power of community firsthand. Her recovery continues to be marked by small acts of kindness ranging from hospital visits to hair salon pep talks and messages from friends. She recalls the support of her husband, their tireless trips to Madison, and the music that became their constant companion. 

“Those were the best days,” she shares. “Joe would sing along in the car, and we’d laugh. It gave us a little bit of normal.”

Now Amanda is starting to pay it forward. She’s participating in a walk to support the Donate Life efforts. And she’ll be alongside a high school classmate who made the decision to donate her husband’s organs after his passing. Their shared mission: to remind people these choices matter, and it can save a life. 

“If just one person becomes a donor because they heard my story, that’s everything,” she says. “We don’t get to have organ drives like blood drives. But we can have conversations. At the dinner table. In classrooms. Online. And not just in April, but every day.”

Amanda is living proof — one person’s decision can be the second chance someone else needs.

Related Features:

Gift of Life: Amanda Sabol turns Advocate after Organ Transplant, Part Two

Second Chance: Amanda Sabol’s Emotional Organ Transplant Story, Part One

Become An Organ Donor and Save Lives