Michigan Secretary of State Visits Dearborn, Encourages Organ Donors

On average, 18 people die every day because they did not receive a needed organ donation.

While that number is still too big, Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson is hoping a new campaign will start to close the gap.

"We have been working hard to educate people about the importance of organ donation in Michigan, and I think we're turning the page," Johnson said during a visit to Dearborn on Tuesday.

As an organ donation advocate, Johnson has implemented strategies to refine the program in Michigan after being elected in 2010.

"We changed the policy at local Secretary of State branches to allow clerks to ask customers if they would like to become an organ donor," she said. "Right away we saw an immediate effect."

For years, Michigan has been behind most other states in the size of its organ donor database. In 2006, about 14 percent of Michigan's population was on the organ donor list. Now roughly 39 percent of the population are registered organ donors, just below the 45 percent national average.

"We have 2.7 million registered donors, and we're up 1 million since 2011," Johnson boasted.

In August 2012, Johnson's office released a new license plate to encourage donors. The plate includes the Donate Life logo and the message: "Be an Organ, Eye & Tissue Donor."

"The need is so great in Michigan and this will be a clear reminder to Michigan residents about the need for people willing to give the gift of life," Johnson said.

She said there is no one reason why she became such a strong donor advocate.

"I have always been a big proponent (for donations)," she said. "I've traveled the state meeting these families who are waiting for hope and it's very emotional to hear their stories."

Dr. Shakir Hussein, a transplant surgeon at Detroit Medical Center's Harper University Hospital, knows firsthand the power of organ donation.

Hussein said more than 3,000 people in Michigan are waiting for life-saving organ transplants.

"Some donors are able to save eight lives - from one person," he said. "Their death did not go in vain. Even after their death, they were able to save lives."

In 2011, 792 people received organs. That was slightly up from 786 in 2010, but down from 863 in 2009, according to Gift of Life Michigan.

A life saved

Andrea Langhor, a mother of five and a grandmother to five, said she is fortunate enough to have had her life saved by a 17-year-old girl who died from a brain aneurysm.

After suffering for many years from a genetic kidney disease, Langhor, a Brighton resident, was told by her doctors in September of 2009 that she would have to start dialysis until she was able to receive a kidney transplant.

It was disheartening news for the then 51-year-old grandmother of five who had watched her own father receive dialysis treatments for the same polycystic kidney disease and knew what her future could look like.

“You’re just existing,” Langhor, now 55, said. “You’re really not living on dialysis.”

Just a week later however, Langhor received “miraculous” news that after only six months on the donor registry, she was a match and would receive her life-changing transplant. She would later learn that the kidney came from a teenager.

“We were a perfect match,” Langhor said. “... (doctors) told me I had won the lottery because that’s like one in a million.”

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