Pittsburgh Steelers part-owners Cindy and Rob Citrone will donate $2 million to UPMC Children’s Hospital and issue a $1 million matching challenge they hope can help launch a network to improve pediatric transplant outcomes throughout the world.

The donation is part of the “Play It Forward Pittsburgh” launch, an initiative the Citrones founded in 2016 in concert with the Steelers, Pirates and Penguins after Rob Citrone’s father became ill and needed a kidney transplant.

Since then, more than 30 local and national organizations signed on, including the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Highmark, UPMC and others.

More than 20 Americans die each day while waiting for a life-saving organ transplant, according to PlayItForwardPGH.org, and 8,000 of the roughly 117,000 people on the national organ transplant wait-list live in Pennsylvania.

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The Starzl Network’s mission is to unite big data, technology, patient advocacy, and transplant thought leaders to deliver the best possible care and develop new, scalable solutions to pediatric transplantation’s most challenging problems. For more information, please visit: starzlnetwork.org