The Waiting Game: 9 Organ Transplant Patients Fight to Survive

ABC NEWS | Dan Leiberman and Ely Brown

For many patients in need of vital organ transplants, life is a waiting game.

For some, getting a new, healthy organ can happen overnight. But for most, the wait is much longer. Sometimes it can take years.

Over 100,000 people in the United States need organ transplants and 18 people die each day waiting for one, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

To see the organ transplant process in real-time, "Nightline" spent time with patients on the transplant waiting list at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., one of the leading transplant centers in the world.

These are their stories:

Tune in to "Nightline" TONIGHT to watch anchor Bill Weir's exclusive report on life-saving transplants at the Mayo Clinic. Learn more about Facebook's new "Share Life" organ donation campaign HERE.