The Community Spoke
And We Listened
It’s not uncommon for African Americans to be mistrusting of the health care system and skeptical of the organ and tissue donation process. We launched Let’s Talk to reach out to those communities, where people are more likely to need an organ transplant, yet less likely to sign up as donors. We talked with people in the community and encouraged them to share their stories, to break down misconceptions, to address myths and to encourage their neighbors, families and friends to sign up as donors.
In the U.S., there are more than 100,000 people waiting for a life-saving organ, and about 60 percent of them represent racial and ethnic minorities. In Michigan, it’s about 40 percent of the patients on the waiting list. This is a discussion that can save lives.
Community Conversations
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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 life. The days and months were long and she was…
Grueling time on dialysis ends with ultimate gift
Organ donor saves star high school athlete who then literally pays it forward to help donation programs A young donor saved two things most important to Tristan Johnson: His life and his ability to play…
Volunteer Spotlight: Liver transplant recipient dreams big
Volunteer wants to help transplant families with House of Hope for extended stays in Detroit Aarolyn McCullough was inspired by one simple question: “Where can I buy groceries?” Aarolyn was volunteering to spend time with…
Heart recipient adopts second mission: Advocating for organ, tissue donation
“I always tell people to sign up,” Grosse Pointe Woods woman says Vickie Figueroa makes her living ensuring that people of Black, Hispanic and Native American heritage are included in the Catholic Church and cared…
Lansing father of 7-year-old donor presents award to producers of popular ‘Chicago Med’ in Hollywood
Donate Life Hollywood reached out to Gift of Life Michigan and one other organ procurement organization this year asking for help. The donation advocacy group asked Gift of Life to nominate a donor family to…
Volunteer Spotlight: Longtime volunteer honors her daughter by teaching others about donation
Artelia Griggs helps save lives by telling everyone she can about organ and tissue donation. She also does it as a loving tribute to her own daughter’s legacy of giving. “It’s been a wonderful thing…
Organ donation advocate works to break down myths
‘It has to stop because too many people are losing their lives,’ says donor mom Terra DeFoe encouraged her son, Emilio, to sign up as an organ donor when he turned 18. Little did she…
‘It’s all in Divine order’
Aarolyn McCullough knew she would need a liver transplant more than 10 years before her miracle happened. Diagnosed in the late 1990s with Primary Biliary Cirrhosis, a disease that attacks the bile ducts in the…
Two-time kidney recipient inspires others to lead healthier lives
One minute Oliver Hale was on top of the world, the next he was flat on his back. Hale, a Kentwood resident, had just won his first United States Tennis Association tournament in 1983 and…
‘She had a higher purpose’
Let’s Have this Conversation Together
We invite you to join us in a virtual experience to elevate the conversation about the benefits of these lifesaving gifts. Talk to your families. Your friends. Your social networks.
We need each other.
A single organ donor can save as many as eight lives. A tissue donor can help heal up to 75 others.
