Important note:

The 2023 Transplant Strong 5K and 5 Miler events have shifted to virtual-only options for this year. If you registered for the in-person events, please check your email for additional information. Thank you. 

Organ donor transplants save lives.

Living donations change the lives of those who give and receive.  We celebrate and support transplant donors, transplant recipients, and the MUSC Transplant Center with these events.  We believe that everyone deserves a chance to live a healthy and fulfilling life and that living kidney donations are one way to make that happen.

These virtual 5K and 5-mile running events, in partnership with Run Cane Bay, present an excellent opportunity for you to raise awareness of the need for organ donors in your neighborhood or favorite park while demonstrating your solidarity with our local transplant community. 

In South Carolina, more than 1,500 people are on the organ transplant waitlist. The majority are awaiting donor kidneys. Registering as an organ donor is a noble way to help patients on the transplant waitlist but the number of kidneys from deceased donors is not enough to help all those patients. Living kidney donations offer patients another pathway to a healthy and fulfilling life. 

In December 2020 our founder, Frank Ramirez, volunteered to be a Good Samaritan kidney donor. Through the MUSC Transplant Center, Frank started a kidney transplant chain that would involve three recipients and three donors, giving the gift of life to three people – changing six lives forever! His eyes were opened to the need and great work being done, so he had to act.

Frank created the Transplant Strong events to remember and honor the acts of the three voluntary kidney donors and celebrate the new lives of the three recipients. This event highlights the need for living donors and helps raise funds to benefit the MUSC Transplant Center.  

All virtual 5K and 5 Miler participants will receive race shirts and finisher medals.

Race Shirts

Participants can order additional race shirts through the race webpage to benefit the MUSC Living Donor Institute. 

Entry Fee

• $25 - Virtual 5K

• $45 - Virtual 5 Miler

Living donors and recipients are counting on us!

Thank you for running to support the MUSC Transplant Center and MUSC Living Donor Institute! Tell your friends, share the registration, and spread the word about the need to support transplant programs and provide much-needed transplant donors.