Supporting Transplant Patients:
What Clinical Teams Can Do

Transforming Healthcare Coaching Podcast — Episode 123: Bonus Days with Alison Conklin. Host Lillian Liang Emlet, MD MS CHSE CPC ELI-MP in conversation with Alison Conklin, founder and editor-in-chief of Bonus Days. Published August 24, 2026.

Alison Conklin: The secret of life — it's really just being kind. And the fact that I can be here because one family said "yes". It's a beautiful thing, and it should be celebrated, and I think it could only encourage people moving forward.

Lillian Liang Emlet: So picture the view from a hospital bed. Out the window, everyone else is going about their day, walking, working, living their lives, and you're just sitting still, waiting for a heart that may or may not come, wondering what your life will even look like if you make it out the doors. And that's the kind of loneliness medicine does not have a treatment for. Not in our hospitals, no chart tracks this, no nurse can even report on this at change of shift. No discharge instructions really can address this. And for most patients, no one ever really hands them the things to support them in those hard moments while they're in the hospital. My guest today, Alison Conklin, is an amazing, beautiful soul, person, artist, photographer, business owner, producer of Bonus Days, this incredible magazine that really helps all transplant families, patients that journey. And so we're so lucky to have her here today on the Transforming Healthcare Coaching Podcast. Alison, thank you, and welcome to the show.

Alison Conklin: Oh my gosh, what kind of intro is that? You're going to make me cry before we've even started. Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor.

Lillian Liang Emlet: You're welcome. It's so incredible your story of first being a photographer and a storyteller. And right here in Pennsylvania, actually. I was, like, super excited when I found out that you're right here in Pennsylvania. And so it makes sense that with Transforming Healthcare Coaching that we'd want to feature stories like yours, where you're trying to help make things different. So I hope it's okay if I tell a little bit about your story — that you had lived with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and you were then told that you would need a heart transplant. And when you received your new heart, you realize now that there are so many more bonus days that you get to be. And so now this magazine is a labor of love to help share and support for transplant families, that journey, and to know that they're not alone. And what I love about the magazine is there's so many different aspects to it. And so I guess my first question for you is could you take us back to, when you were in the hospital, and you would watch outside the window and going back into that time, if it's okay, what was the hardest part of waiting, through that journey of getting evaluated, getting diagnosed, being told this needs to happen? Because I can't imagine what happens in that liminal space.

Alison Conklin: I'll take you back to July of 2022. I'm 42 years old, which is the same age that my mother was when she died of HCM right in front of me. I was 14 when that happened, and then here we are all these years later, I'm the same age as her. My doctor said, "You're not going to live another six months unless you receive a heart." So in that immediate moment when I'm sitting on the little bed in the thing and they tell me this, I don't believe it for a second. I'm like, "Wait, hold on. There's no way. This isn't what death looks like," because my perception is the movies, TV shows, and I just didn't realize how slow-moving everything was, like what a slow burn it was. It was really hard to tie my shoe. I couldn't put a bed sheet on. I couldn't do steps. But it had all happened so gradually over the course of all these decades that it just became my normal, and I didn't realize how bad I was. So being a compliant patient that I am, I just started to do the things that they required me to do for listing, which is like just so many tests. They want to make sure that there's so many things that aren't wrong with you, that you could handle this. And by the time I got to October of that same year, my heart had really started to fail, and they had to place me in the hospital to finish the listing process and wait for a heart. And it's a really bizarre thing where you're hopeful that this will happen, that you'll receive an organ, but there's no timetable. It's not like you could say, "Oh, can we schedule this surgery?" Like, that is not how transplant works. So I brought a bunch of photos in with me, and I-- You know, NYU, where I was transplanted, had these beautiful picture windows, like floor to ceiling, and I could watch the busy streets of New York, and I could watch the Empire State Building change colors every night. But I had no idea if I was going to be able to leave the hospital. Would I survive this? Would I survive waiting if it took months? Would I stay alive? And also, would I survive the surgery if it happened? And then what my life would look like afterwards. And for me, I started to try to find everything I could, which was Google searching or using hashtags on social media channels. What can I find? Because everything, every main story about transplant, no matter what the organ was, it was the trauma that got somebody to organ transplant, and then they received the gift, and that's where the story ended. But I was 42. I was younger. I was like, "Well, am I going to travel? Am I going to be able to do anything? Am I living in a bubble now?" Like, what is my life going to look like? And so I just couldn't find anything. And I think there was just a lot of anxiety and fear, and because I'm a mom of two adult sons and I'm married, I was trying to just be positive and just be like, "I'm not nervous, I'm not scared," to everybody else front-facing. But I was terrified.

Lillian Liang Emlet: Yeah. I can't even imagine. You know, it's like it's hard to express, and it's one of those things where you realize trying to be a good patient, trying to be a good wife, trying to be a good mom, it's really hard to, like, know what you do when you're in those alone times, you know? And I can only imagine how much quiet anxiety is in there. And how in the world did you process it? Or did you process it later after it happened?

Alison Conklin: Yeah, I mean, I feel like I still am. A lot of people will say "How long did it take to recover from a heart transplant?" My response now, I've learned just to say, "I still am, and I always will be." Because there's no other way to describe it. I've had a lot of surgeries in my life. I had open heart prior. I had a septal myectomy. I had two brain tumors, and I had them removed, one through my nose and one with gamma knife. I've had gallbladders out. I had C-sections. I've had multiple surgeries, and most of those, even the open heart, was like a few months to recover. Nothing changed. And I even thought for a minute, that when... I've had open heart. I've got this whole transplant surgery thing. It's going to be about the same. Literally not the same, and it changed every avenue of my life, and it's, and it affects not only me, but it affects my close family and friends. Because we're talking about being immune compromised, so if my kids say, "I'm going to bring somebody over," I have to say, "How are they feeling?" Or if they're going to a concert, I have to say like, "Just bring a mask with you just in case," because if they're going to come back to my house, it affects everyone, and it affected every avenue of my life, so it was a really big deal. And so I think my answer to that is I'm still processing, and I'm still learning, and I'm working through it, but I think that community has been such a huge part of just where I am right now almost four years later.

Lillian Liang Emlet: Yeah. And I have to admit, like also the pandemic really didn't help, on all of the misinformation and disinformation and unacknowledgement of the millions of people who are immunocompromised in the country to just realize we are living all together, and that everyone may or may not put it on like a badge on their coat to say that I have reasons that I should wear a mask. But to make that such a public discourse through the pandemic was also very challenging, I can only imagine. So I kind of want to focus a little bit more on now this magazine, this beautiful magazine. Walk us through the moment that you realized that a printed thing, something that a person could hold in their hands, might be the answer to help other transplant families and patients through this process of continual processing and healing and recovery.

Alison Conklin: Definitely. So I'm a photographer, so I love print media. I'm a child of the '80s and '90s, so again, I love print media. But when you're sitting in a hospital room and it's quiet, maybe it's a weekend and you're there, your doctors aren't coming in really, no one's rounding because it's a Saturday or a Sunday, there's so much time to kill, and all you're doing is doom scrolling on your phone. And what are you seeing on your doom scroll? You're seeing everyone else's highlight reel. You're seeing all their highs and lows, and you're sitting here thinking, "What is my life right now? Am I going to be able to leave this hospital? What's my life going to look like post?" I needed a break from that. And so a year after my transplant, I started thinking, "What would help me?" And also, I should back up to say when I... Not everybody gets a meeting that says, "You've been told you need a transplant, now what?" But I did, and it was such a horrible experience. I left that meeting with my husband and I said, " Maybe I wait and see how long I live," which is such a naive thing to say, but it sounded so terrifying in that meeting where they're describing all the things you can and cannot do, and it was like, "Do I want my life to look like this?" Like, this can't be what my life looks like. Is this worth it? And I knew that a year later it was worth it. All of it was worth it. All the fear, the anxiety that I still had was worth it. The time that I was receiving because of this gift, absolutely worth it. But I wanted to make it easier. I knew if I was going to be thrown into the transplant community, I wanted to make it better for the people that were going to come after me, the people who were still there, everybody I was walking alongside with. So I decided to take everything that my life has been professionally and personally and create a print magazine. I remember saying to my husband, "I think I want to start a magazine about chronic illness and transplant." And he's like, "What, like a blog?" And I was like, "No. Like a printed magazine." And he looked at me like, "In 2024, you want to start a printed magazine?" "Yes." So I did. The first issue was really small. It was only 40 pages. But basically, I traveled across the country telling stories of all different organs, of all different stories, and it was so well received on that first, like, can I do it issue, that I just did another one. And then I did another one after that, and I'm currently on seven. When you are in the hospital and you're going to be discharged, you receive so many papers. They're usually just Xerox copies. They're not interesting. I don't want to read it. I don't want to consume that media. I have to be honest, it usually sits on my counter until I finally am like, "I'm throwing this away." But there has to be a better way to tell us the dos and don'ts for medications and all the little things. So that's what we did. And the magazine has dieticians sharing, like, approved recipes. It has stories from living donors and what that felt like. It has stories from deceased donor families. It has stories from caregivers and patients obviously. And it's turned into such a beautiful endeavor, and I know that it has healed me so much. And the letters that I receive and the emails I get and the comments, it's helping so many other people, and I just love that. I mean, doctors and nurses and everybody at hospitals do such a wonderful job at keeping us alive, but that mental health part of it that happens when we're home, when we've been discharged, is definitely the quiet battle of any chronic illness. And I just think that doing this project has really taught me that us collectively as a group are so much stronger than we are by ourselves, and it didn't matter and it doesn't matter what organ we have received. We all have the same fears and anxieties and joys and celebrations. And so it's just been this remarkable thing that I'm so grateful to have done.

Lillian Liang Emlet: Yeah. It's really funny. I think also it really teaches everyone in the healthcare space what it's like from the patient's experience. What I love about the magazine, it's not just only patient stories, it's the caregiver story, it's the donor story, it's the just guidance for people who work in the field of transplant. And so that means there's nutritionists, there's respiratory therapists, there's critical care people like me, there's the regular medical doctors, there's the primary care. It takes an army and a village to be able to take care of all the aspects of whole care. And it's such a process. So that's what I love the most about it, is because it actually brings light to voices that aren't often seen. Most people only see the transplant surgeon or the one heart failure or some kind of like doctor who bridges that advanced care forward. And so there's only a couple centers in the world that people usually identify with, but there's lots of little people. And I really love the caregiver stories because those are also often neglected and forgotten.

Alison Conklin: 100%. Yes. I mean, and that's the thing that I've really learned. I mean, the last issue I just did, the sixth one, we had question and answers with the pilots who fly either just organs or patients. That's a big part. I mean, obviously the surgeons get a lot of credit, and obviously we wouldn't be here without donors, but there are so many people that I'm learning that it takes to save one life. I think it's important for those stories to be told and for people to see. This issue that I'm working on now that is coming out in September is all about the helpers. So we have asked the social workers, which is super fun to find out what they do and what they can do. I have a roundup of charities, a roundup of virtual support groups that you can join. I mean, I think what's remarkable is most patients when they survive transplant want to do something, and there's so many 501(c)s that are started by transplants. And we, just because we all want to give back, but, like, how do you know that these things exist? I've learned from just working on this how many resources I could have used while staying in New York that I had no idea existed. So I think putting all of this in one place, and the magazine is beautiful, if I don't say so myself, and because I made it that way because I want everyone to pick it up. Because most people's experience with transplant is Izzie cutting the wire on Grey's Anatomy. Most people don't know about it unless you're in it, and even when you're in it, you don't really know about it. But I mean, I think encouraging a really positive way to speak about organ donation, especially in today's news, is really important because I think I've learned, and obviously through this, I'm only here because of someone else, because of many someone elses. And I think I can't say that I'm a guru or a spiritual, like guiding person, but that is the secret of life. It's really just being kind. I mean, and the fact that I can be here because one family said yes. And then all of these other people have dedicated their lives to science to figure out how to even make that yes turn into something that is me sitting here almost four years later. It's a beautiful thing, and it should be celebrated, and I think it could only encourage people moving forward.

Lillian Liang Emlet: Yes, absolutely. So I want to say, so for everyone, when we're talking about the magazines, they really are very beautiful. And so this is a friend and colleague of mine Dr. Alin Gragossian. She's actually an emergency medicine, critical care medicine physician who also has received a heart. And so these magazines really do feature so many wonderful stories, and I know you probably don't have a favorite because it's a compendium of so many stories overall. It's going to take a while to get through all of the stories for the different episodes of the magazine.

Alison Conklin: Yeah. I mean, they're all my favorite, and what's amazing is they're, it's evergreen. Anybody can pick up any. It's not like it's out of style or out of date. This is the most recent one, but this is with Scot Pollard, who had a heart transplant. He's an NBA superstar. But this next issue that I'm working on is... I don't know. I think it's the best one yet, so we'll see.

Lillian Liang Emlet: Yeah, it works. Yeah. And so when this episode airs, we will put on the link below the show notes how you can purchase your own copy. And that gets us into now the fact that you actually have Penn, NYU, and other major healthcare systems buying issues in bulk for their waiting rooms, for their transplant clinics, for their advanced medical clinics, and pre-transplant to bring more hope into their space, to help educate their patients. Because I think taking home one of these really educates more, even as you're in the throes of the worst part of your illness pre-transplant, to be able to understand, "Should I make this decision or not? Should I even list, or should I say no?" Rather than that moment suddenly where in the clinic you get told this. And so I guess I'm curious how can other healthcare systems or how can other people help bring more hope into their own space, and where do they start?

Alison Conklin: Yeah. Well, I mean, thank you. Yeah, I think it's simply just sending me an email. If you have a center or a doctor's office or something like that, and you're interested in buying in bulk, just email me. But I know that NYU, Penn, as you mentioned, Yale, UT Southwestern, and Temple, they're all buying in large quantity, and they're giving it to their patients, and they're finding such good results. And what's interesting is that they've all started to purchase from the beginning, and they've never stopped, right? So they're seeing the results, and the retention kinda shows how important this is and how needed this kind of hope in a magazine is. I know that a lot of centers will have past transplant patients go in and speak to patients that are maybe in hospital, which is great, but it's also very triggering. I don't love going into the hospital unless I'm there as a patient. So I think there's just something really special about handing this to them and saying, "Just take a look. It was created by somebody just like you." And I like to say that it's patient-led. It's made by patients for patients. But I think as it continues to grow, it's not necessarily true. It's community-led because I do have stories, as we mentioned, from doctors, from nurses, from dieticians, from everybody involved. So simply, it's just sending me a little message saying, "Hey, I'd love to buy these in bulk." If you're interested in just seeing one for yourself, just head to bonusdaysmag.com and you can order it.

Lillian Liang Emlet: So we have a lot of clinicians, nurses, physicians, NPs, PAs that listen to the podcast, and they always think about what they can do as a leader and how can they improve the space around them. Many of us have been in the side of giving the bad news or giving the serious news for this is where, what we're up against, and it's hard because it's about to get much more complicated. From a patient's perspective having gone through the process and now trying to make things different and better for what comes ahead for others, what's one concrete thing that clinicians can do before they walk out of the room, to be able to help that moment?

Alison Conklin: Yeah. I mean, I think truly the best thing you need to do is just look at your patient in the eye and spend some time. A lot of the time sometimes during visits you're on your computer because I know clinicians have to log everything, and sometimes that computer forces you to have your back to the patient. I think if you just swing around when you're, like, delivering that hard news and just allowing a space to have all the feelings, right? There's going to be all kinds of things from denial to anger to disbelief. There's no right or wrong way to respond when being told worst-case scenario situations. I think I've been very lucky in all of the people that have taken care of me have been so remarkable. And I'm so grateful for that. I mean, I remember being in the hospital and my night nurse would just sit with me on those days where I was waiting, and I was like, "I don't know how I'm going to do this." And I don't even know if he would remember me, but I certainly remember the words that he said, which was, "Think about a mountain climber. When a mountain climber has to climb to the top of the mountain, they don't look at the top of the peak when they have all those other steps. They just simply look at the step right in front of them." And I've never forgotten that because obviously very true for transplant, but true to any kind of hardship in anyone's life. So I think it's just remembering human connection, which I know is hard because doctors and nurses and everybody's up against so many things logistically that they have to do. But I think just taking a minute and sitting with someone, and then obviously handing them Bonus Days magazine. So definitely, taking a minute. And then, also realizing that—

Lillian Liang Emlet: It's such a process that hopefully you can get through the moment in the clinic, and then also know there are other ways to support, to recommend places, communities, to be able to get that, to process. I mean, because it's really hard to process. And if there's someone listening right now who is in the waiting, right, for either a transplant or just received a diagnosis, and they really just have that fear that their life is going to just change and they don't know when it will look like on the other side, what do you want them to know having now heard so many stories and to see so many journeys? I don't know if there's something that would be helpful for people who are currently waiting.

Alison Conklin: And I think the answer is that it is going to be beautiful, and it is beautiful regardless of a treatment plan and regardless of the diagnosis. It's certainly scary, and there's probably going to be days, weeks, months, years that feel like two steps forward and seven steps back. But I think to know that there is an entire community that has probably experienced it, like you're not alone, you're not by yourself, you're not the only person that's ever had to handle all of this, is a really important aspect of walking through. Just because chronic illness is so isolating, and you feel like you're the only person that has this when all the media is just showing you all these wins. But I think it's just allowing space to be able to process as much as you can, get connected with all of the people that are doing good. My favorite quote from my personal hero, Mr. Rogers, is, "In those moments of complete darkness and fear, look for the helpers," because I promise you there are people that want to do this right next to you so you don't have to do it alone.

Lillian Liang Emlet: Oh, I love that. Of course, being a Pittsburgher.

Alison Conklin: Yes.

Lillian Liang Emlet: Yes, of course, the Mr. Rogers.

Alison Conklin: Yeah, I know. I grew up on Mister Rogers. I grew up in Pittsburgh, so yeah.

Lillian Liang Emlet: Yeah, so many things tie us together. So you call them bonus days. After everything, what has living in these bonus days taught you about what actually matters in life, and what would you want every person caring for patients to carry from this episode?

Alison Conklin: Yeah. So first of all, I want to take you back to the night that they told me they found a match, a donor heart, and then they're like, "Get some sleep. Your surgery's going to be at 3:00 AM." Huh? Like, how do you sleep, right? So I spent the night scrolling my phone, looking at all of whatever's on my camera reel, and it... I wasn't looking at any wins I had professionally, any cover of magazines that I had shot in my career. I wasn't looking at any awards I won. I wasn't... I was looking at all of the little things and all the little moments that added up, and I think post-transplant, that's the most important part. I'm still here. I'm still here to see my kid go off to grad school. I lost my mom when I was 14, so being here as my 23-year-old starts his life is amazing. I just came back from California, where I went grocery shopping for him, and just to have that experience, and it's just the little things. It's not the big celebrations, and it's not the grand love stories. It's honestly just the everyday stuff that you could be involved in. It's a very ordinary... It's the extraordinariness of ordinariness. That is what this is about, and it doesn't mean that my life isn't hard some days, and it doesn't mean that you get tired, that you don't get tired of being an eternal patient. But I would choose this over and over again to be here to watch my children grow up. I've never been afraid of dying, but I've been afraid of leaving my kids too soon, and to watch them grow and become who they are is just a really... I'm so grateful.

Lillian Liang Emlet: It's all those little moments. It's all the little funny things, the laughs, the silly board games, going grocery shopping, doing laundry, just being. Just being is enough.

Alison Conklin: Right. Exactly.

Lillian Liang Emlet: It's a great lesson for everyone in life, I believe. So thank you so much, Alison, for the gift you've given every person listening to believe that beautiful life is always possible, and it's always in the little moments, and that there's ways that you can help and give back. And to... There's lots of people in your community, and also in your hospitals and your healthcare systems. And so how can people work with you? How can people engage in terms of getting bonus days into their healthcare system? How can they find you?

Alison Conklin: Yeah. Thank you. So, bonusdaysmag.com is our website. You can follow us on Instagram at bonusdaysmag. You can find me personally at Alison Conklin, or @alisonconklin on Instagram. And truly, if you're interested in sponsoring, it is a very niche group, but you would be forefront of all of these patients. And getting it in the hands of people who need it most. It's a really exciting opportunity, I think, for any company that would be intrigued. And then if you're a center, please, yeah, let's have a conversation about getting it in the hands of your patients. I know that the places I mentioned before hand it to the people that are sitting in clinic being told they need a transplant. It's being handed to people that are, like, inpatient. It's being handed when you come in for your clinic appointment, and the responses have been remarkable. And I think the proof is simple. They've never stopped purchasing it, and they're not buying it just because I'm a great salesperson, because I'm not. They're buying it because they're seeing benefits to their patients. And again, you do such a wonderful job at keeping us alive, but the emotional part of healing is a very quiet one, and this is a help.

Lillian Liang Emlet: So all those patient experience leaders out there and patient advocates out there, please check out Bonus Days. And for everyone out there doing the good work, hopefully this brought you a dose of joy and gratitude for all that we do in healthcare and also what you do as people who support that whole healing journey afterwards for all the people in our communities afterwards. And so thank you, Alison, so much for being on the podcast.

Alison Conklin: Okay. Thank you.

Lillian Liang Emlet: Everyone else listening, thank you for listening to Transforming Healthcare Coaching Podcast. Please like, share, subscribe, and more importantly, forward this to someone who you know either could make an influence, be a sponsor, someone, or someone who's working through chronic illness or might need a transplant, because this might be the gift that they really need to hear today. Thanks everyone for listening. We'll see you next time.