Minnesota’s first dedicated pediatric transplant home opens in Rochester

ROCHESTER – Four decades after establishing itself as a haven for patients seeking care at Mayo Clinic, the Gift of Life Transplant House is set to begin welcoming guests to Minnesota’s first home designed specifically for pediatric transplant patients and their families.

Beginning next week, up to three families with children going through transplant care will be able to stay in the three-story home, located just blocks away from Mayo’s two main campuses.

Stephanie Donovan, executive director of Gift of Life, said while the nonprofit has welcomed children for years, its other buildings only have space for patients to bring one guest at a time. Now, the pediatric home will allow patients — many who are traveling hundreds of miles for care — to bring along their entire support system.

“We know with kids going through transplant, if they’re not able to be surrounded by their family, recovery is more challenging,” Donovan said. “So this means they can see their loved ones. If they are having a hard day at appointments, they can come home and play with their siblings.”

The recently restored home is the third facility for Gift of Life, which already offers 84 rooms across two buildings in the downtown area, making it the largest transplant lodging program in the country.

As with its other sites, philanthropic support will keep rates for pediatric patients low — $30 per night, a fraction of the actual cost to host guests.

But affordability is only part of the model’s success, volunteers say. By prioritizing shared spaces like kitchens and movie rooms, Gift of Life guests often build support systems that last long after their stays.

For many of the volunteers and supporters on hand for a ribbon cutting Wednesday, the opening of the pediatric house marked a full-circle moment for Gift of Life. The home being used is the same century-old building where the organization got its start in 1984 with accommodations for 16 guests.

That would later prove to be too small to realize the vision of the late Ed Pompeian, who founded the nonprofit after coming to Rochester in 1973 to receive his own “gift of life” in the form his mother’s kidney.

The experience not only saved his life, but it also prompted him to consider ways the community could support patients during the times they were outside of the hospital. That idea was only solidified after a transplant patient he had befriended took his own life, said his son, Nick Pompeian.

Today, Gift of Life welcomes about 4,000 patients and caretakers a year, with stays ranging from a couple of weeks to six months.