Blog

Gift of Life Michigan is once again looking to honor our partners throughout the state at our annual Champions Gala on Friday, April 1, 2022. We would not be as successful as we are without…

‘I’d do it again if I could, but you can only do it once’ When Ryan Miller needed a new kidney, there was a long line of people willing to donate one – including his…

Organ donation helps two families heal, grow and bond Twenty years ago, Dr. Michael Hagan was living on borrowed time. Hagan, now 71, knew he was ill, he just didn’t know how ill. He knew…

More than 95 percent of people on the Michigan Organ Donor Registry signed up to donate life while they were getting (or renewing) their driver’s license or state ID. Our incredible partners at the Michigan…

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…

Mustafa Sharafi always wanted to be a father. He was granted that wish more than three years ago, when his son Zain was born, and said he has been grateful every day since. “To have…

Commerce Township woman finds passion in organ, tissue donation advocacy A desire to help others has turned into a life passion for Cathy Warren. Warren, 57, of Commerce Township, started working for the Donate Life…

Battle Creek woman beats cancer, achieves dreams with donated tissue Kristen Main faced an impossible choice before she even turned 13 years old. She mentioned a strange lump on her arm to her doctor during…

A lot of people called Jim Pixley ‘the Miracle Man,’ because of all the things he went through and everything he accomplished. Pixley, of Highland Township, passed away on April 28, 2020 at the age…

Donated tissue allows breast cancer survivor to quickly resume life, activity   With a history of breast cancer in her family, Sue Pilon was not about to take chances when she was diagnosed with the…

When news broke recently that a Denver transplant center disqualified a candidate for transplantation because she was not vaccinated for Covid-19, some Michigan residents asked how this might affect patients in our state. From the…

Muskegon mother marks two-year-anniversary of son’s death, organ donation Muskegon, MI – Amanda Garza has a printed version of the last text she received from her son, Nathanael. It reads: “I’m just thinking of you…

Bill enabling organ transplants from HIV-positive donors to HIV-positive patients referred out of committee, headed for vote

When Michael Love started to experience shortness of breath, the Southfield resident said he thought it’d be easy to treat. He was 50 years old at the time and noticed he had been slowing down…

Sometimes, life throws you a curveball. Mohamed El-Souri knows this better than most people. The 18-year-old Dearborn resident was a healthy, active teen who fell very ill while he was in high school. Doctors initially diagnosed him with pneumonia, but it turned out there was nothing wrong with his lungs – his heart was failing and he needed a new one.

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…

Dominick Anastasi is back to playing catch and coaching his sons in basketball, baseball and football. He’s grateful for the experience, considering a year ago, he was too weak to even throw a baseball. Initially…

Jean Washington is now in a group that has far too many members: she’s waiting for a life-saving organ. Washington, 48, of Southfield, had been concerned about a general sense of fatigue last year and…

July 22, 2010, John Edmond got the call every parent dreads.

When Ja’Leisa White-Newhouse learned in 2018 that she could help others by donating her newborn baby girl’s placenta, she knew it was something she had to do.

August is National Minority Donor Awareness Month (NMDAM), when we call attention to the gap between the number of organ donors and the number of African Americans, Latinx, and Asian Americans who need life-saving organs and tissues….

Earl James has some advice for men who are inclined to ignore the typical aches and pains that come with age: ignore them at your peril.

Alex-Michael Springer fought through some adversity in his life and had a bright future ahead of him. When a tragedy cut his life short at the age of 24, a decision he made when he was younger saved the lives of five people.

William Wayne McGee IV was known by several nicknames, including ‘Ugg,’ and ‘Fat Daddy.’ His mother, and at least one of the people he saved when his life was tragically cut short at the age of 33, have another nickname for him, too: ‘God’s Gift.’

Farmington Hills, MI – Dale Milford has always been a man of strong faith, but he said his transplant journey – or, more accurately, journeys – elevated his calling. After three liver transplants, he said…

Michigan’s organ and tissue procurement program is taking precautions to protect staff, patients and the community Dorrie Dils, CEO of Gift of Life Michigan, recently announced the organization would require COVID-19 vaccination for all staff, beginning Sept….

Fathers and daughters often share a unique bond, but for Ralph and Kristen Mutrynowski, that connection is even stronger. Ralph, now 70 and a Rochester Hills resident, donated a kidney to his daughter in 2014….

Jud Lynch knew he would need two things: a haircut and a kidney transplant. The 68-year-old Grand Rapids man just didn’t expect to get them both from the same person. He was diagnosed with IGA…

Two decades ago, Mark Otto would’ve been happy to gain just one more year of life. Then 34, his liver was failing and he was plagued by chronically itchy skin. He was jaundiced and extremely…

Candice Desjarlais remembers the exact moment she decided to donate a kidney to her sister-in-law, Thelma. Thelma had just finished a five-and-a-half hour dialysis treatment, with Candice sitting with her to keep her company. Candice…

Nancy Banks was just finishing up a dialysis treatment when her phone started to ring. She didn’t recognize the number and was going to ignore it because the clinic had a strict no-calls policy. A…

Sarah Ann Scantamburlo has learned to live life to the fullest and make the most of whatever circumstances fate throws her way. “I feel like so many people wait for tomorrow, what they deem as…