Readers share their messages 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 […]
Donate Life license plates drive awareness Read More »
Donors give life, sight and mobility to thousands Q: Can anyone be a tissue donor? A: People of all ages and medical histories should consider themselves potential donors. Medical experts will decide each patient’s medical condition at the time of death to determine what tissues can be donated. Q: How are tissues removed and what
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The organ donation process is carefully regulated for patient safety and conducted with the utmost respect for donors and their families. Organ procurement organizations (OPO) such as Gift of Life Michigan must adhere to medical, ethical and legal standards. Brain death is death. Physicians at hospitals across the nation make the determination, or declaration, that
Facts about brain death and how it’s determined Read More »
Gifts pay for efforts to grow the Donor Registry 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
Gift of Life launches annual appeal for financial giving Read More »
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
Groundbreaking Michigan Medicine partnership ‘has the potential to help thousands’ Dr. Tim Frankel is in the midst of groundbreaking research into pancreatic cancer, and the key to his findings is the generosity of organ donors from Gift of Life Michigan, just a few miles across town. Since 2021, this state’s organ donors have provided more
Gift of Life organ donors provide the ‘holy grail’ of pancreatic cancer research Read More »
Kathy Vogelsang lends vision as chair of Gift of Life’s Governing Board Kathy Vogelsang said goodbye to her daughter, Rebecca, as the bright and funny high schooler left for play practice on a frosty March morning in 2008. A phone call not long after changed the trajectory of her entire family’s life. That call also
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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 some of the patients they couldn’t save gave new life to others. She knew those
Staff Spotlight: Sheila Alston has been saving and healing lives for 40 years Read More »
One family’s story of tragedy, skin donation and 26 years of borrowed time Roy Schramm shouldn’t have survived. With burns over 60% of his body, doctors had told his wife, Jeanette, to gather his family — now. She plunked coins into a hospital pay phone to bring everyone together. Hours earlier, Roy was finishing his
“Precious gifts saved my dad.” Read More »
Making the decision to become an organ donor upon your death is the first step in the organ donation process. But before a patient can become an organ donor, several things must happen. After every attempt to save the patient’s life has failed, a doctor will determine and declare a patient dead when either their
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Choosing to sign up on the Michigan Organ Donor Registry gives you the opportunity to create a lasting impact on others’ lives. Making that decision known to your family is just as important. In Michigan, your decision to someday help others through donation is protected by the Uniform Anatomical Gift Law, a state law that
The Facts: What is first person authorization? Read More »
Signing up to be an organ donor is just the first step in making your decision known. The next step? Sharing that decision with those closest to you. In Michigan, your decision to someday help others through donation is protected by the Uniform Anatomical Gift Law, a state law that has been in place since
I decided to join the Michigan Organ Donor Registry. What happens next? Read More »
Richard “Jake” Jacobson’s motto is “at least one.” “My hope is that by sharing my story, I might help at least one person who is struggling,” said Jake. “Not just someone on the waiting list or who recently had a transplant, but anyone.” The Marquette native joined the Air Force in 2001, following the attacks
Veteran shares struggle in hopes to inspire “at least one” Read More »
Most Americans are in favor of organ donation, but not everyone who joins the donor list is able to donate. In fact, only 3 in 1,000 people die in a way that allows for organ donation. A person becomes a donor by being declared brain dead, or through a process known as donation after circulatory
The Facts: Brain death, circulatory death and comas Read More »
Four Michigan pickleball players are hoping to set a new world record and raise both awareness and money all in one swing. West Michigan residents Brad Haverkamp, Julie Ondersma, Sydney Sonday and Caleb Dang will try to break the Guinness World Record for longest marathon by breaking the record of 34 hours, five minutes and
Grand Rapids pickleballers take on Guinness World Record for a worthy cause Read More »
