This article is part of “On Borrowed Time,” a series by Anissa Durham that examines the people, policies, and systems that hurt or help Black patients in need of an organ transplant.
One illustrator.
Two video producers.
Three reporters’ notebooks.
Four editors.
Seven spreadsheets.
Eleven photographers.
Dozens of interviews.
That is what it took to report “On Borrowed Time.”
This year, I took on the most ambitious reporting project of my career. I dove headfirst into the world of organ donation and transplantation — its promises, its failures, and what it meant for Black lives.
I wanted answers to questions that are clinical and yet deeply human: Why aren’t more Black people registered organ donors? Who is responsible for educating the public about organ donation — and who is failing to? What actually happens when the phone rings and getting an organ transplant becomes possible? And what efforts are physicians and advocates spearheading to increase the number of Black organ donors and surgeons?
The series consists of eight stories, each intentionally grounded in narrative. Every story begins with — or is centered on — a Black person whose life has been shaped by organ donation and transplantation.
Words alone aren’t enough. Each story has original photography because truth requires witnesses. The images spotlight the resilience of our community but also depict the burden so many Black folks bear when dealing with a health care system shaped by and steeped in racism.
Four of the stories also include original Word In Black videos. They trace the history of mistrust in organ donation, who is working to repair that breach, and bring viewers face-to-face with the patients most affected. And it was important to feature the legendary surgeon Dr. Clive Callender, who spent his entire career increasing the number of Black organ donors and surgeons.
And, for the first time, I put on the producer hat and stepped in front of the camera.
It took me a few years to find the right sources. Shaping each story took several months of interviews to nail down the central message. Organ transplants are among the most fascinating achievements in modern medicine. It’s undeniably lifesaving. But with any revolutionary and complex system, there’s bound to be lots of questions and confusion about how things function.
Here are my top three takeaways from my reporting:
There’s Nothing Like the Day You Get the Call
The more I interviewed transplant recipients, the more I realized one story needed to stand alone: the moment the waiting ends. In my second story, “The Call That Saves a Life,” I asked eight people to walk me through the day they got the call.
Brittany Clayborne told me how she went into heart failure shortly after giving birth to her son. For years, she came face-to-face with her mortality and hope started to fade.
Listen to her describe the moment she got the call:
Jazmin Evans was in her kitchen, making a homemade crunchwrap supreme and watching “Girlfriends” when she got the call. Bobby Howard was coaching high school football. Craig Merritt was fresh out of a dialysis session.
Waiting for an organ transplant is essentially like waiting for your life to restart. It’s challenging, time-consuming, and mentally exhausting. But for Etta, Brittany, Micah, Craig, Andrew, Ieesha, Bobby, and Jazmin, it was worth the wait.
Mistrust Isn’t a Stopping Point
Trust, quite literally, is the difference between someone getting an organ transplant — or not. In no way do I want to diminish or dismiss the mistrust Black people feel toward the organ donation system. But my reporting challenges the assumption that someone who mistrusts the system will never be an organ donor. Two things can be true at the same time.
Mistrust is the reason I started this project.
As a Black and Latina woman with years of health reporting behind me — and my own lived experience — I understood the fear that doctors might not fight to save my life so my organs can be used. I’m healthy, but the few times I’ve sought out health care, I’ve encountered racism, assumptions, and dismissal.
In “Why Black Folks Say ‘No’ to Organ Donation,” I interviewed Tamika Smith, a Black woman living with chronic disease who has a long history of dealing with the health care system. She described being dismissed, gaslit, and made to feel like the pain she experienced was all in her head. Smith has no plans to be an organ donor.
And I don’t blame her.
I was several months into my reporting before I felt ready to register as an organ donor myself. I still feel strongly that the health care system needs to treat Black patients better. But now I know enough to separate the myths that prevented me from donating from the truth. And I think the same can be true for other Black folks who are wary of the health care system.
Racism is Killing Us
You can’t underestimate the power of racism. Structural racism — whether it be socio-economic disadvantages, redlining, food deserts, racism embedded in medicine, or access to health care — is killing Black people.
In “Is the Patient Black? Check this Box for Yes,” I wrote about a race-based clinical algorithm that inflated kidney function scores for Black patients. It was an automatic, standard practice to increase the value by a few points. This non-scientific adjustment delayed the point at which doctors would say a Black patient’s kidneys had failed, and delayed access to dialysis and kidney transplant eligibility.
That racist practice, embedded in medicine, costs lives. Hundreds. Likely thousands of Black patients died on dialysis, waiting for a kidney transplant. That calculation didn’t change until 2022, after the nationwide racial reckoning put the equation in the spotlight.
More recently, Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, delivering devastating cuts to Medicaid. In “The Cruelest Kind of Heartbreak,” I interviewed two Black people in need of heart transplants, patients whose survival depends on medicine and policy. To them, these federal spending cuts make it clear that if you are Black and disabled, you’re essentially disposable.
“We live in a country that does not value people’s lives. It devalues [life] so much that disabled people and people who need organ transplants … are seen as expendable. It’s horrific,” says Dom Kelly, president and CEO of New Disabled South, a policy and legislative advocacy organization that works in 14 Southern states. “It’s horrible to think that people are going to die waiting for organs because we cut Medicaid to quote unquote save money.”
Even before these cuts, accessing health care was becoming increasingly challenging. Both Bobby Faithful V and Brandon Jerrod told me they rely on ChatGPT to help them decode their medical bills and navigate health insurance companies.
In a nation that never hesitates to fund war, the deaths of Black patients in need of health care are a choice.
Racism and discrimination should not be killing us.
But they are. And for Bobby and Brandon, it remains an open question whether the system will help them in time.
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Anissa Durham reported this story as one of the 2025 U.S. Health System Reporting fellows supported by the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Commonwealth Fund. The Commonwealth Fund also supports Word In Black’s health reporting.
Read More of On Borrowed Time
Why Black Folks Say ‘No’ to Organ Donation
Mistrust is rooted in lived experience, medical racism, systemic neglect, and a history that still shapes Black patients’ choices.
Organ Donation 101: Here’s What to Know
We asked experts to break down the top 10 questions about how the transplant system works — and why equity matters.
Why Do We Believe Organ Donation Conspiracies?
Organs aren’t “harvested” or “kept on ice.” But countering mistrust and misinformation in the Black community isn’t easy.
He’s a Legendary Transplant Surgeon. At 88, His Work Isn’t Done
Dr. Clive O. Callender fought racism in medicine and built a movement that saved thousands of Black lives.
Is the Patient Black? Check this Box for Yes
For years doctors relied on a race-based medical calculation that kept Black patients from accessing life-saving kidney transplants.
Need an Organ Transplant? These 7 Resources Can Help
These trusted programs offer financial assistance and mental health support for Black people who need an organ transplant.
The Call That Saves a Life
Not everybody survives the wait for an organ transplant. We spoke to eight Black Americans who received a transplant. Here’s what they said.
The Cruelest Kind of Heartbreak
Trump’s tax cuts will make getting a heart transplant even harder for Black patients who already struggle to maintain Medicaid coverage.