2026 Best Wellness or Relationships Podcast Nominee
Moments that define lives—told by those who lived them.
Some conversations change everything. In Extraordinary Conversations, we explore those rare, pivotal moments when lives intersect, and something greater begins to take shape. Hear from the specialists who guide these discussions, bring clarity to a crisis, and help people understand what comes next.
Listen to Season 1: The Organ Donation Conversation
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Season 1 of Extraordinary Conversations takes listeners inside one of the most emotionally complex decisions a family may ever face: the conversation about organ donation after brain death. These conversations often happen with no warning, in hospital rooms filled with grief, disbelief, and impossible questions. Yet within these moments—when a family is asked to consider organ donation—there is also the possibility of connection, legacy, and healing for others. Through intimate interviews with donor families, medical teams, and transplant coordinators, this season explores how these rare encounters unfold, what they require of everyone involved, and how something life-giving can emerge from unimaginable loss.
Bonus Episode - Letters
In the world of organ donation, two powerful letters are written. The first is the Moment of Silence letter. This letter is read in the silent, solemn moments before organ procurement surgery in which a donor family introduces their beloved one to the medical team not as a patient, but as a person. The second travels later from donor families to recipients, a powerful message filled with love, grief, and hope sent into the future.
Ep 6: Kidney and Liver Recipients
What does it mean to receive the ultimate gift, one that comes not wrapped in paper, but in sacrifice? In this profound final episode, we meet the recipients: people whose lives were saved by kidney and liver transplants, and the extraordinary individuals who gave them.
Ep 5: Heart and Lung Recipients
In this deeply moving episode, we meet the people on the other side of that midnight phone call: the recipients. Recipients describe the surreal experience of waking with new organs, the struggle to reconcile gratitude with guilt, and the profound ways their near-death experiences reshaped their lives. Some thrive, embracing each day with newfound purpose; others face cruel setbacks, like Dan Milburn, whose body rejected his lungs far too soon.
Ep 4: Transplant Surgeons
In this gripping episode, we follow the chaotic, emotional journey of organ transplantation inside the operating rooms and the quiet, anxious moments that define the race for a second chance.
Ep 3: Organ Transplant Recovery
This powerful episode takes a deep dive into the unseen, emotionally charged world of organ transplant recovery where urgency and reverence collide. Host Toby shadows a surgical team on a 2 AM mission to Marshfield to retrieve organs from a donor, revealing the complex logistics, split-second decisions, and profound humanity behind the process.
Ep 2: Donor Families
Hear from the family members faced with the unimaginable: making a decision about organ donation in the wake of sudden loss. This episode offers a deeply human look at grief, generosity, and the quiet strength behind saying yes.
Ep 1: Donation Request Specialists
Go behind the scenes with the donation request team—the medical professionals who speak with families during life’s most fragile moments. Learn how they approach conversations about organ donation with clarity, compassion, and care.
What Others are Saying
“…This is truly amazing. I love how you highlight these ridiculously hard conversations that we have with families and that nobody knows about.
I also love how you show the views of the families and the organ donation staff, and I look forward to hearing you talking about the transplant surgery, etc.,…”
– Claire C. ICU Doctor
“I can safely declare I've notified everyone in my life to listen to it! It is beautifully done, and...one of the most impactful narrative shifts for [the organ donation and transplantation] industry.”
— Hayley H.
MSN, MBA, CPTC
“…I just finished episode 1. The podcast is extremely well produced; your narration and storyboarding are wonderful.
I hope this finds a large audience, and I’m curious to see the direction you take things…”
– Mark S. Palliative Care Doctor & Documentary Filmmaker
Do you have feedback for the EC team?
Dr. Toby Campbell is a Professor of Medicine and Chief of the University of Wisconsin’s Palliative Care Program, where he holds the Ellen and Peter O. Johnson Chair in Palliative Care.
He is also the founder of WeTalk Labs, developing practical tools to improve how people navigate complex conversations.
As a practicing thoracic medical oncologist, he focuses on helping patients and families make difficult decisions with clarity and compassion. His contributions to communication and shared decision-making have earned national recognition and awards for humanistic care.
Do you have an Extraordinary Conversation topic to share? Submit your ideas for Season 2.
Meet the Host
“I’m talking to the people who routinely navigate life’s hardest conversations.
Together, we examine our experts’ knowledge about culture, medicine, communication, and what it means to truly live—and die—well.”
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