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 Unit. He knew his 7-year-old would not survive her accidental gunshot wound. And he knew exactly what Amaia — a helper at heart — would want to do next.
Ninety miles west in Holland, Mike Lopez was in liver failure from hepatitis C that raged undetected for 20 years. He weighed just 120 pounds, was getting weaker by the day, and he desperately needed a liver transplant. His mind rarely took a break from one thought: “How much time do I have left?”
We work for Sherry Johnson and all who wait
A message from President & CEO Dorrie Dils
Waiting.
It’s an experience as routine as it is universal.
We’ve all felt the minutes stretch while standing in line at the grocery store, waiting for a call or text to be returned, or maybe watching the clock tick for a child to emerge from school or practice.
Waiting is simply part of the human experience. But for those waiting for a transplant — waiting to live again — it takes on an extraordinary significance and emotion.
Sherry Johnson is one of those people. Her recent wait for a new heart and kidney was measured not in hours or even days in Room 455 at Michigan Medicine. It stretched over months. She was admitted in August and turned the page on her calendar twice before she learned that a donor would save her life.
Sherry created a temporary home in her hospital room with heartfelt cards, blankets, her laptop and even a coffee machine.
For Sherry, life was suspended as her family and friends moved through the change from summer to fall, which she could only see from her seventh-floor window. Her life was a series of missed moments.
In that time, Sherry allowed Gift of Life and our followers on social media a window into her wait. It was a glimpse from just one patient — one of more than 2,400 in Michigan waiting to live again.
The length of her wait was contingent upon the generosity of a donor and the complexity of timing and a medical match.
Not only did she share her wait, she also shared her news that a donor was found after 76 days away from home. A raw cellphone video captured her emotion just hours after learning she would get that new heart and kidney from a single heroic donor.
Sherry’s new life is now just beginning.
She was home for Thanksgiving and will gather around more holiday dinner tables with her parents, husband, Tim, and two grown sons, Nick and Hayden.
As Sherry moves forward with overwhelming gratitude, we at Gift of Life Michigan hold her story as a testament to our mission and more fuel for our commitment to the people we serve.
Her wait has ended, but our work continues. As an organization, we’re working hard for all the other Sherrys who maybe someday won’t have to wait at all.
Please share LifeLINES to help us grow
Welcome back to LifeLINES, Gift of Life Michigan’s premier publication and report to the state’s donation and transplant community.
I’m thrilled to report that the list of email subscribers like you who receive LifeLINES in their inbox has doubled since January 2022 to nearly 9,000 readers.
That’s a good start, but we want to grow our list even more before Donate Life Month in April, so I have an ask:
Do you know someone who might want to know more about organ, eye or tissue donation?
Are all your family members getting LifeLINES? Would they like to?
Do you know someone who just loves a good read but might not have any connection at all to the donation and transplant community?
Can you forward this email with the latest edition of LifeLINES along and ask them to consider joining our list?
We hope you’re inspired by this edition’s cover story about John Edmond and Mike Lopez. John’s daughter, Amaia, saved Mike’s life and the two have formed an inseparable bond. The story is both heartbreaking and heartwarming.
This cover story and the accompanying video is worth sharing in your circles.
Expanding our circulation beyond our own donation and transplant community promises to help grow the Michigan Organ Donor Registry, support what we do financially, perhaps, and help us continue to honor life through donation.
Thank you for all you do!
Be well,
Editor and Senior Advisor
Tissue donor eases recovery for breast cancer survivor
Four months pregnant, Curpri felt a lump in her right breast. She froze. It couldn’t be, could it?
After an ultrasound, then a mammogram and a biopsy, Curpri received numbing news. She had breast cancer.
Her mind raced.
“Am I going to be able to have this baby? Am I going to die? My mother died from cancer. I have a 4-year-old at home. How can I prepare him for this?
Gift of Life Michigan breaks record for organ donors in a year
Unprecedented 500 donors save lives so far in 2023
Michigan’s organ and tissue donation program has broken another record by reaching the 500 organ donors mark in a single year with more than a month remaining.
The number of organ donors has been rising year over year, giving more hope to the 2,400-plus patients waiting for life-saving transplants in the state.
By comparison, Gift of Life Michigan helped a record 463 organ donors and their families give their final gifts in 2022. In 2021, the number stood at 429.
This year’s donors have so far resulted in more than 1,200 organs transplanted, saving the lives of hundreds of critically ill patients in Michigan and beyond.
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. […]
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. Not even Detroit Tigers superstar Miguel Cabrera. Chris talked to […]
Organ donation vehicles are hope on wheels
Organs and transplant teams are probably on board Ever wonder what that passing SUV covered in organ and tissue transplant branding is all about? You probably ask yourself, who or what is inside? Where is it headed? And what could […]
Donation champion award winners for 2024 will be announced this month
Tickets available for the popular April Gala
Gift of Life Michigan will soon announce the names of about 20 donation champion award winners which will include Hospital of the Year, Legacy and Honoring Life through Donation honors.
A near-record number of people, hospitals or organizations were nominated this fall for the extraordinary work they do to promote donation or help make it happen across the state.
“We’re overwhelmed by the interest and participation this year in what has become Gift of Life’s premier event honoring heroes in the field,” said Director of Advancement Susan Rink. “We can’t do our work without champions in our communities, hospitals and transplant centers. And we can’t wait to hold up their work in April.”
The annual cocktail-attire event has evolved since 2019 into the most inspiring and emotional gathering Gift of Life has to offer to Michigan’s donation and transplant community.
The Gala will be held on Thursday, April 4 at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi.
You gave me your heart so I could live my dreams
herry Johnson was so exhausted she couldn’t walk her two little boys to the bus stop. Brushing her teeth wiped her out. Cardiomyopathy, diagnosed four years earlier, was taking its toll and only a heart transplant would save her life.
It was 2006.
The Farmington wife and mom was just 34 when she was admitted to Michigan Medicine to wait for a new heart. Three days later, Sherry was awakened by her nurse with the news that a donor’s heart was a match for her. Sherry later learned the name of her donor — Sue — and met her family.
This year, on Aug. 8, Sherry was admitted to Michigan Medicine to wait a second time, for a second heart and kidney transplant.
This is a letter Sherry wrote to Sue after learning she needed another donor’s heart.
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 life, you don’t realize how much you rely on it until it’s gone. It’s certainly not something I was thinking about when I was 6 years old, playing outside with my friends, learning to read or playing with my Ghostbusters action figures.
But slowly, it began to get harder to see what was going on at school, and I couldn’t clearly see the faces of my parents, teachers and friends.
My whole world was starting to go blurry. Doctors told my parents an infection had left a scar over my cornea, the outer covering of the eye, making it difficult for me to see.
At just 6, I had to learn to live with a visual impairment.
It’s a matter of faith and facts
New Michigan law protects health coverage for living organ donors
My dad is a ‘donor in spirit’
Transplant Throwback: Kay Walters
Do taxes. Save lives.
A new bill will require education about organ donation in Michigan public schools
A season of giving with Gift of Life
Gift of Life and its partners spent the fall thanking donor families and other supporters for what they’ve given to recipients and programs.
The single most important event of the year is the Michigan Donor Family Gathering. Gift of Life and Eversight welcomed more than 500 people to a moving ceremony of remembrance and thanks to all organ, eye and tissue donors as well as donors in spirit.
Gift of Life also hosted its first event thanking financial supporters with an Honoring Life Society reception in Ann Arbor. Guests included members of the community, board members and employees who contribute to the mission financially through the organization’s payroll plan.
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