Mount Laurel resident Michael Logue will compete in the 2026 Transplant Games of America from Thursday, June 18, through Tuesday, June 23, in Denver.
The games are open to solid organ and bone marrow transplant recipients, living donors and the family members of both living and deceased donors. Teams are established in states across the country, with some states having two.
The six-day event includes more than 20 competitions (swimming, track and field, cycling, etc.) for recipients and living donors, along with more than 60 special events throughout the week that provide opportunities to celebrate donors, attend lectures and workshops, and interact with friends and associates.
Participants are divided into three primary competition divisions:
Division 1: Solid organ transplant recipients (e.g., heart, liver, kidney, lung, pancreas).
Division 2: Living donors, along with cornea, tissue, and bone marrow transplant recipients.
Division 3: Immediate family members of living or deceased donors.
The games will bring together thousands of transplant recipients, living donors and donor families to raise awareness of organ donation. The 57-year-old Logue – a liver transplant recipient – will compete in the cornhole and bowling events as part of Team Liberty. Members are transplant recipients from Connecticut, New York and New Jersey.
The team is a program of the Sharing Network Foundation, which supports the work of a New Jersey chapter that is responsible for the recovery and placement of donated organs and tissue for the nearly 4,000 state residents currently awaiting transplantation.
Team Liberty meets not only at the Transplant Games but year round to promote the success of organ transplantation, raise awareness of the urgent need for organ and tissue donation and to honor donors and their families.
Logue addressed his own transplant recovery.
“It was a long, difficult journey,” he recalled. “It’s painful emotional and physically. I went through a lot, and my family suffered along with me, but they supported me the entire way, and as a result, I was able to obtain a transplant due to the grace of my donor and his family.”
While he looks forward to the games, Logue emphasized his main goal is to celebrate the reason for the games.
“I’m going to not only have fun and celebrate my life as a transplant patient,” he related, “but also to honor donors, their families, other transplant patients and the organizations that facilitate organ, tissue and transplant donation.”
Logue also volunteers with the state chapter of the Sharing Network, for helping – along with others – to save his life.
“NJ Sharing Network is the one of the reasons I’m alive today,” he acknowledged, “(because) they were the ones who found a compatible liver for me and ensured I received it and was transplanted. In addition, I’m eternally grateful to my surgeons, nurses, hospital staff and my donor and their family.”
As a recovering alcoholic, Logue now speaks at A.A. meetings and in-patient addiction rehabs and has been sober since 2023.
“One of the reasons I speak at (the meetings and rehabs),” he said, “is to tell my story and let the people there know that there is life without alcoholism, and no matter how tough your circumstances may be – in my case nearly dying – you can fight and overcome them to have a new life.”
Logue encouraged residents to consider donating either an organ or tissue when obtaining or renewing a driver’s license, by way of a will, or by registering as a donor through the NJ Sharing Network’s website at www.njsharingnetwork.org/register.
“At any one time there are over 4,000 people in New Jersey alone awaiting an organ transplant,” Logue noted. “Organ transplant saves lives, and tissue donation transplant enhances lives through things like cornea donations. You’re truly being a lifesaver by (being an organ donor), and you’re ensuring that the love you showed during your lifetime lives on even after you’re deceased
“And if you’re a living donor, then you’ve given the ultimate expression of love.”
