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 happen? Back during the Vietnam War, I received a letter to report for duty. But the doctor there said I was disqualified, that I was sick. I thought, ‘Sick from […]
Transplant Throwback: Guadalupe Alejos Read More »
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. Rachel was a strong, vibrant mom, friend, daughter and wife. Time spent with her college-sweetheart husband, David, and their two boys involved travel, sports, kayaks and long hikes on beautiful
Lansing heart recipient saves lives by telling her story of hope Read More »
Michigan residents who haven’t yet added their names to the Michigan Organ Donor Registry will have a new and easy way to do so in 2024. Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the Check Your Heart Act into law in July, making Michigan the first state in the country to enable residents to add their names to
New law lets residents sign up through tax forms Read More »
Case results in protocol change with worldwide implications One of Gift of Life Michigan’s smallest donors – baby Jade Townsend, who lived for just 55 minutes in 2021 – saved the life of another infant this spring. But perhaps her most compelling and lasting legacy is an important protocol change. The tissue processor that accepted
Baby Jade Townsend saves the life of another infant Read More »
Growing awareness one impression at a time Gift of Life Michigan is working to educate and inspire action using data and by telling the stories of donors, their families and organ and tissue recipients whose lives are changed by their gifts. The state’s organ donation program is expanding its reach to meet more people where
Using digital marketing to save lives Read More »
Popular signature event will grow in 2024 The annual Champions Gala honoring people and organizations across the state is thriving thanks to the generosity of sponsors supporting the annual event, which recognizes the best of the best in the donation and transplant community. The gala received $82,500 in support from a record 17 sponsors in
Gift of Life’s gala generates thousands for critical programs Read More »
There’s a buzz in the air when Gift of Life Michigan educators arrive at a school with their red trunk of supplies and plasticized real human organs used to teach about donation and transplant. The All of Us education program is a real draw. “Everybody hears that we’re there,” said Alison Gillum, senior community relations
“All of Us” surges in popularity at schools across Michigan Read More »
One of the greatest myths related to organ and tissue donation is that there’s a strict age limit and that older people couldn’t possibly save the lives of others. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, more than 25% of organ donors in Michigan last year were 60 or older. Twenty of the
Think again if you believe you’re too old to be a donor Read More »
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 grateful for any little kindness. When the kitchen sent up her favorite not-on-the-menu fried eggs, she cried. Debora, 63, was
Gift of Life Michigan has worked for years to find new ways to increase the use of donor organs for transplantation. One five-year study, in particular, revealed such dramatic and significant findings that Michigan’s organ donation program changed its protocols almost immediately, and results followed. Gift of Life began collaborating with Stanford University in 2015
Heart study with Stanford University results in more transplants Read More »
Donation Coordinator Cindy Zarate squeezes a terry cloth towel soaked with warm, soapy water and slowly wipes it across the arms of a man whose life ended the day before. It’s her job to be there for him at Gift of Life Michigan’s Donor Care Center in Ann Arbor. The hospital-like center is home to
Gift of Life’s largest West Michigan outreach event returned this week to the popular John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids with a new twist. This year, more than one thousand Donate Life Night at the Zoo guests were treated to an exclusive after-hours event inside the zoo on August 16. The event’s top highlight was
Transplant recipients tell their stories to 100 visitors at Gift of Life Michigan Community Open House Both Rachel Kuntzsch and Tristan Johnson were healthy and active when their doctors delivered unimaginable diagnoses of life-threatening illnesses. Both required immediate placement on the nation’s organ transplant waiting list, and both were on the receiving end of life-saving
‘It happened to me’ Read More »
August is National Minority Donor Awareness Month, designated to heighten awareness about organ and tissue donation in multicultural communities. Originally observed in a single week in 1996, this awareness month is a collaborative effort by the National Multicultural Action Group to save and improve lives by focusing on the African American, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander and
National Minority Donor Awareness Month Read More »
Gift of Life MOTTEP hosted its 26th annual LIFEWalk/Run event on July 22 on Belle Isle in Detroit. The event included a 5K walk and run, and a 10K run. The theme for the event was “Putting our Heart in Every Step.” Gift of Life was focused on being a health resource in the heart
Gift of Life Hosted Annual LIFE Walk/Run on Belle Isle Read More »
