“Precious gifts saved my dad.”
Roy Schramm shouldn’t have survived. He suffered burns over 60% of his body and, in places, was burned to the bone.
Roy was finishing his midnight shift in the Hot Strip Mill at Ford Motor Co.’s Rouge steel factory in Dearborn. That’s where steel slabs were heated, cut, rolled and cooled before they were crafted to make frames for Mustangs, Thunderbirds and other Ford models.
Roy had tried to save a large, expensive magnet from sinking into a pit of water used to cool the sub-molten steel. As the 51-year-old stepped onto a platform, Roy slipped into the pit of near-boiling water. He was immersed except for his right arm and everything above his shoulders.
Only skin grafts — lots of them over months — would save Roy’s life, and there wasn’t enough supply.
President & CEO Dorrie Dils
The vital role of tissue donation in saving lives
The cover story of this edition of LifeLINES is dedicated to something profoundly important that aligns with the very core of our mission: tissue donation.
Every year, thousands of lives are transformed by the generosity of tissue donors and their families. The gifts of tissue lend healing and hope to patients suffering from severe burns, traumatic injuries, and conditions requiring reconstructive surgery or mobility enhancement.
Tissue donation doesn’t receive the same level of attention as organ donation.
But tissues such as skin, bones, tendons and heart valves can be just as life-changing for patients in need. These tissues are vital in more than a million grafting procedures each year, offering recipients not just a medical solution, but a renewed opportunity to live a fulfilling life.
Gift of Life Michigan’s commitment to facilitating tissue donation goes beyond the logistical aspects at our Donor Care Center in Ann Arbor. We are dedicated to educating about and advocating for tissue donation. Every interaction with potential donors and their families presents an opportunity to share the healing benefits of tissue donation and how it creates a legacy of hope amid loss.
In this edition, you will meet Tim Schramm.
His father, Roy, sustained burns over 60% of his body in a horrific accident years ago at Ford’s River Rouge auto plant in Dearborn. Roy’s life was saved through skin donation, likely from multiple generous donors.
For patients with extensive burns like Roy, skin grafts can prevent severe infections, significantly reduce pain and ultimately save lives. Roy lived another 26 years and was able to be a father to Tim into his adulthood. He also met and enjoyed his grandchildren and was a loving companion for his wife for more than two decades after that terrible November day in 1978.
Read more about Roy’s story and learn about tissue donation.
This year, we anticipate that more than 1,900 tissue donors will change life forever for patients like Roy — and those patients’ families. In fact, May was a record-breaking month for tissue donors in Michigan, as 197 provided life and mobility to thousands of recipients, genuinely making a difference.
It was our great privilege to help them give their final gifts, and we are dedicated to honoring those donors and supporting the families of tissue donors every single day.
"Every year, thousands of lives are transformed by the generosity of tissue donors and their families." — Dorrie Dils
2025 Champions Gala
Congratulations to the 18 people and organizations we will recognize at Gift of Life Michigan’s seventh Champions Gala on May 2. They were selected from dozens of nominations for their extraordinary efforts to promote or make organ, eye and tissue donation happen in Michigan over the past 18 months and beyond.
Without them, and other passionate advocates across the state, Gift of Life’s efforts to fulfill the generous decisions of donors and their families would be difficult to impossible.
Please join us at The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit for an evening to remember complete with cocktails, dinner and an inspiring awards ceremony to honor our winners.
For information about how to buy tickets, become a gala sponsor, and all other information about the 2025 event, go to golm.org/gala.
Staff Spotlight: Sheila Alston has been saving and healing lives for 40 years
As a busy manager in Detroit-area hospital emergency departments back in the 1990s and early 2000s, Sheila Alston read letters to her staff from Gift of Life Michigan. She wanted those triage nurses and other ER staff to hear how […]
Volunteer Spotlight: Two-time lung recipient gives hope to those waiting for a miracle of their own
When Michael Love woke up groggy from his lung transplant surgery in 2015, he instinctively felt his nose for the cannula that had delivered life-sustaining oxygen for the previous six months. It wasn’t there. “I started crying,” the Gift of Life Michigan volunteer recalled. “They had to give me a new gown because I completely soaked the top half. I […]
Transplant Throwback: Tom Brock
Name: Tom Brock Age: 65 Home: Hartland Transplant: Heart Why did you need a transplant and when did it happen? In the summer of 1987, I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a disease affecting my heart muscle, and was transferred to […]
Gift of Life launches annual appeal for financial giving
Gift of Life’s annual fundraising appeal is underway with an email campaign and a brochure mailer for friends and advocates of Gift of Life, donation and transplantation.
The funding generated from this campaign will make some important things possible, said Susan Rink, Gift of Life’s director of advancement.
“The generosity of our donation and transplant community is critical to helping us save more lives,” Susan said. “As we all know, growth of the Donor Registry is the key and it takes a lot of money to pay for the programs and staff efforts taking place across the state every day.
“We are so grateful to those who have already contributed, including our own employees. We’re proud that 30% are giving back through payroll deduction. That says so much.”
Donate Life license plates drive awareness
The back bumpers of thousands of vehicles across the state sport the Donate Life logo specialty license plate which encourages residents to give the gifts of life, sight and mobility.
The $35 plate became available in Michigan in 2012. Proceeds from sales go to the Thomas Daley Gift of Life Fund to be used by the state to promote organ, tissue and eye donation. The fund is named after state Rep. Kevin Daley’s son, Thomas, who became an organ donor in early 2011 and saved the lives of four critically ill Michigan residents.
We asked our readers to send us photos of their plates with vanity messages honoring donors, celebrating transplants, or promoting donation.
To order a Donate Life specialty plate of your own, go to michigan.gov/sos/vehicle/license-plates.
A donor mom becomes leader in the donation community
Facts about brain death and how it’s determined
Facts about tissue donation
Gift of Life organ donors provide the ‘holy grail’ of pancreatic cancer research
A summer celebrating community and saving lives
Gift of Life and its donation advocates spent the summer and early fall raising awareness for donation and transplant, gathering as a community, and thanking donors and families for their precious gifts.
Gift of Life and our partner Eversight welcomed more than 500 people to the annual Michigan Donor Family Gathering — the year’s single most important event in honor of donors and their families.
The Check Your Heart Community Open House drew advocates to Ann Arbor to thank Gift of Life’s volunteers and financial supporters for all they give to the mission.
July brought MOTTEP’s lively and inspiring LIFE Walk/Run on Belle Isle in Detroit.
Learn how you can get involved and also volunteer at golm.org/volunteer.
Join us!
National Donate Life Month
April
Champions Gala
May 2 • Detroit
Check Your Heart Capitol Rally
June 17 • Lansing
Check Your Heart Community Open House
August 12 • Gift of Life Michigan
Visit golm.org/events to see what’s going on.
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