SOUTH ORANGE — Meredith Borrelli and Mike Logue’s lives were saved last year when they received liver transplants at Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden.
Now, as the friends continue to regain their health, they just spent five days competing at the Transplant Games of America in Denver. Held June 18 to 23, the bi-annual event celebrates organ donors and recipients, and highlights the need for organ donation.
The games drew more than 3,000 transplant recipients from across the country. They included more than 20 competitions for recipients and living donors, along with 60-plus special events – from donor tributes to social events to lectures and workshops.
“I feel like I have a new lease on life since my transplant,” said Borrelli, 54, of South Orange. “The gratitude you feel for someone who chose to be an organ donor is so huge. People like me wouldn’t be here today without people like her.”
More than 100,000 people are waiting for an organ in this country, including 9,000 who need a liver. A total of 13 people die each day while waiting, according to organdonor.gov.
Logue, 57, credits Virtua’s staff with helping him cope with the uncertainty of waiting for a new liver and keeping him as healthy as possible, despite his grave condition.
“I owe a debt of gratitude to Virtua that I could never repay,” said the Mount Laurel attorney, who now volunteers for transplant-related causes. Helping others is “part of my pledge to my donor’s family.”
Borrelli and Logue are on Team Liberty, a 60-member group representing New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. The team is a program of the Sharing Network Foundation, which supports the work of NJ Sharing Network, a nonprofit organization responsible for the recovery of donated organs and tissue. The two competed in bowling, corn hole, and trivia contests.
Although they didn’t win any medals, “the Games weren’t really about winning or losing,” said Borrelli. “It’s about the fact that you can do it, not how well you do it. It was very inspiring to see people competing and doing really well, who’d had the same transplant I had, who were 25, 30 or 40 years post-transplant.”
Borrelli received her transplant in May 2025, performed by Dr. Ely Sebastian, a transplant surgeon at Virtua Advanced Transplant & Organ Health. In January, she connected with Logue through a Facebook group for liver transplant patients and supporters. They quickly became buddies.
Liver failure has many causes, including hepatitis and other viruses, obesity and related conditions such as fatty liver disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure, and various toxins. In Logue and Borrelli’s cases, excessive alcohol use harmed their livers. Fortunately, both were able to stop drinking—a requirement for a liver transplant.
“Drinking is a very common cause of liver disease, sadly,” said Dr. Hisham ElGenaidi, Meredith’s transplant hepatologist .
Virtua’s staff works to remove the stigma associated with liver problems, noted Dr. Simona Rossi, Logue’s transplant hepatologist. “Our goal is to make sure our patients know this isn’t something they did to themselves,” she said. “Alcoholism, drug addiction, and obesity are diseases.”
Logue drank heavily for 10 years. Lingering injuries from a car accident combined with work-related stress and pandemic isolation fueled his alcohol use.
Last year, he became critically ill with liver disease and was put on the transplant list. After about five months, Logue received a new liver. Virtua also provided treatment for his depression, before and after the transplant.
“I haven’t had a drop of alcohol since Christmas 2023,” said Logue, who still attends AA meetings. “I’ve learned healthy ways to cope with challenges.”
For Borrelli, a chain of traumatic events led to a reliance on alcohol, including her father’s death and the destruction of her mother’s home by a tornado. One day, she noticed the whites of her eyes looked yellow or “jaundiced.” Borrelli then developed pain in her abdomen, and her doctor told her to go to the emergency room.
There, at a North Jersey hospital, Meredith learned she had end-stage liver disease. “I was told I had about two months to live,” she recalled. “I had stopped drinking the day I noticed the jaundice. But that wasn’t long enough to qualify for that hospital’s transplant program.”
Those doctors suggested she go to Virtua, which would be better equipped to help her.
Two days later, Meredith transferred to Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes—one of just two hospitals in New Jersey performing liver transplants.
“That was the best thing that could have possibly happened to me,” she said. “The care I got at Virtua was phenomenal. It felt like everything fell into place.”
Just 32 days later, Borrelli received a new liver.
Borrelli continues to rebuild her stamina. A provider of Reiki and sound healing (alternative-medicine techniques), she still works with one client, whom she sees remotely.
“It’s important to take the time to recover and slow down,” said Borrelli. “My lab results have been great. I’ve been diligent about everything: taking my pills on time and following all the rules.”
“There’s life after a liver transplant,” said ElGenaidi. “Many patients go back to work after six to 12 months. I have patients who are runners and weight lifters, who can usually return to those activities after a year.”
Still, transplant patients must take medication indefinitely to prevent their bodies from rejecting the new organ. “I’ve been very lucky,” said Borrelli. “Every moment feels like a gift, even if I’m dealing with medication side-effects.”
For Borrelli and Logue, the Transplant Games offer a chance to share their appreciation and spread awareness of the importance of organ donation.
“I’m not an athletic person. I’m horrible at all sports!” Meredith said. “The Games are about building community and honoring the people who gave you a second chance at life.”
This spring, she met her donor’s parents for the first time. “It was incredibly emotional,” Meredith recalled tearfully. “We’re like family now. They said, ‘You carry around a piece of our daughter.’”
Meredith wants more people to realize “how extraordinary a gift you can give by simply taking a few minutes to register as an organ donor.
“My donor saved five people’s lives,” she said.
For more information, visit Virtua Advanced Transplant & Organ Health or call 1-888-VIRTUA-3. To learn about organ donation, visit Virtua.org/OrganDonor.
About the Author
