Stories of Hope

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Suzanne's husband and daughter met her lung and heart recipients
Blog, Stories of Hope | August 15, 2024

Mom of five can breath again

Carla Bussell waited six years to take a good breath.   In 2009, shortly after the birth of her fourth son, she started experiencing shortness of…

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Lisa Haney at the Michigan Capitol steps during the Check Your Heart Capitol Rally
Blog, Stories of Hope | August 14, 2024

Small steps to a big milestone

As an Army sergeant and medic, Lisa Haney was trained to save lives. Then her own life was saved during the military discharge process in…

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David Rozelle, heart transplant recipient
Blog, LifeLines, Stories of Hope | April 17, 2024

Transplant Throwback: David Rozelle

Name: David Rozelle Age: 86 Home: Kalamazoo, Michigan Transplant: Heart Why did you need a transplant and when did it happen? I had a serious…

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Ben, Karen and Mallaki Hayes
Blog, LifeLines, Stories of Hope | April 17, 2024

Mallaki receives the gift of life and a new family

Ben and Karen Hayes knew no one could care for the foster boy like they could A 7-year-old boy in the foster care system was…

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Patrick Pruitt's eyesight was saved by a cornea donor when he was a young child.
Blog, LifeLines, Stories of Hope | December 15, 2023

Cornea recipient celebrates his gift of sight

I’m here because 32 years ago I received a life-changing gift. Sight is an easy thing to take for granted and, like so much in…

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Terri Finch Hamilton's father was a donor-in-spirit at the end of his life.
Blog, LifeLines, Stories of Hope | December 15, 2023

My dad is a ‘donor in spirit’

I was sitting in my living room, numb with grief, when the phone rang. My dad had died a few hours earlier. A woman named…

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Sherry Johnson, with hair pulled back right, sits on her bed in her hospital room while she waits for a second heart and kidney transplant. Her forearm is facing the camera so we can see her tattoo, representing her original heart and her first transplanted heart.
Blog, LifeLines, Stories of Hope | December 14, 2023

You gave me your heart so I could live my dreams

Sherry Johnson shares her experiences as a heart transplant patient who waits again Sherry Johnson was so exhausted she couldn’t walk her two little boys…

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Taneisha Carswell received a kidney transplant from her cousin. Her young nephew later became a donor.
Blog, LifeLines, Stories of Hope | December 14, 2023

Staff Spotlight: As a donation educator, Taneisha Carswell knows when to talk and when to listen

Gift of Life staffer’s kidney transplant gives her personal perspective If Taneisha Carswell doesn’t convince someone to be an organ donor right away, no worries….

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Chris Kowalski shared his story as a heart transplant recipient at the 2023 Inspiring Champions Symposium.
Blog, Stories of Hope | December 14, 2023

Volunteer Spotlight: Chris Kowalski speaks while he waits for a life-saving heart transplant

Not much will stop this volunteer from telling his story Chris Kowalski won’t let much get in the way of telling people about organ donation….

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Kay Walters, pictured with her daughter, received a heart transplant in 1997.
Blog, Stories of Hope | December 14, 2023

Transplant Throwback: Kay Walters

Name: Kay Walters Age: 72 Home: Holt Transplant: Heart Why did you need a transplant and when did it happen? I had my heart transplant…

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Mike Lopez (left) received a liver transplant when John Edmond (right) donated his 7-year old daughter's organs
Blog, LifeLines, Stories of Hope | December 13, 2023

A brotherhood is born out of death, life and gratitude

John Edmond barely gave it a thought as a woman from Gift of Life Michigan entered his young daughter’s room in the pediatric Intensive Care…

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Curpri Sanders received the gift of a tissue donation for her reconstruction surgery after a double mastectomy.
Blog, Stories of Hope | October 16, 2023

Tissue Donation for Breast Cancer Survior

“I can look in the mirror every day and not be reminded of the hell I went through.” Curpri Sanders experienced the happiest time in…

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Guadalupe Alejos, who received a kidney transplant 50 years ago, standing in front of the Kidney Transplant Center sign
Blog, LifeLines, Stories of Hope | September 12, 2023

Transplant Throwback: Guadalupe Alejos 

Name: Guadalupe Alejos Age: 77 Home: Grand Rapids Transplant: Kidney at Trinity Health Kidney Transplant Center Why did you need a transplant and when did it…

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Heart transplant recipient Rachel Kuntzsch
Blog, LifeLines, Stories of Hope | September 12, 2023

Lansing heart recipient saves lives by telling her story of hope

Life was “exceedingly rich” for Rachel Kuntzsch when it nearly slipped into darkness forever. She was happy, 44 and her Lansing consulting firm was thriving….

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Double lung transplant recipient Debora Dearring
Blog, LifeLines, Stories of Hope | September 7, 2023

Volunteer Spotlight: Gift of lungs motivates Debora Dearring to share her own spirit and compassion

Debora Dearring lived at Henry Ford Hospital for nine months, seven of them waiting and praying for a double lung transplant that would save her…

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