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The Gift of Life Michigan Donor Family Advisory Committee.

The Donor Family Advisory Committee was developed in 1992 with six donor families who joined forces with Gift of Life Michigan to help provide support to donor families and to promote donor awareness. Today, the group has grown to include 14 organ, tissue and eye donor families.

Gift of Life Michigan honors the Donor Family Advisory Committee for their work in helping to create Best Practices in the donation process. Throughout the years, the Donor Family Advisory Committee has been instrumental in developing multiple projects such as:

  • A "Thank You" card program for transplant centers that provides cards for newly
    transplanted recipients to send to their donor families
  • A peer network of donor families throughout Michigan who work with newly bereaved
    families in their time of loss
  • A funeral home program designed to provide donor families the option of having an obituary/death notice to signify that their loved one was an organ and/or tissue donor
  • A three year grant from the Division of Transplantation to create The Donor Family
    Journey on Transweb
  • A permanent memorial plaque at the "Forever Green" tree on the grounds of the
    Michigan State Capitol in Lansing
  • A video entitled Give So Others Can Live that is used across the state for professional
    and public awareness.
Members of the DFAC along with lung  recipient Ron Battiata and is wife Nancy, work to staff a Gift of Life information booth at the Bay City Festival in July 2006.
In May 2004, the members of Gift of Life's Donor Family Advisory Committee filed an application with the state of Michigan to obtain 501 (c) 3 non-profit status, to become the Michigan Donor Family Council (MDFC). The goals of the foundation are to:  provide a support system unique to donor families; educate and bring awareness about organ and tissue donation; and provide assistance for families participating in the Health and Human Services National Donor Family Recognition Ceremony. Several members of the committee are involved on a national level, participating in various organizations that support organ and tissue donation.

In an effort to provide resources for donor families, the MDFC will be involved in fundraising activities, such as the "2005 Remembering You Gala", golf outings, etc. They will also seek corporate funding and will accept donations from individuals.

This committee meets every other month to discuss issues related to donor families in Michigan. They also participate in our annual Betty Buckley Donor Family Ceremony and volunteer throughout the state at many public and professional education events.

If you would like to make a financial contribution to the Council,
please contact us.

Donor Families going to the Transplant Games - Pittsburgh, July 11-16
Team Michigan is getting ready for the Games!!!
We encourage you to join our team as a donor family member, a recipient, or any avid supporter of donation to come and participate as an athlete, or to join us to encourage our team to victory!!! For more info on the Games, or to register, please visit their website at: www.transplantgames.org

And this year, our Michigan Donor Family Council (MDFC) is sending 6 families to the Games to participate in the National Donor Recognition Ceremony.

The families that will be attending the Games for free, thanks to the MDFC are:
Coleman Family
Alma Agulto
Marie Sproull
Parker Family
Phyllis Smith
Toth Family
Matthew Jones - living kidney donor to a complete stranger

Thank you Michigan Donor Family Council!!!

2nd Annual Lisa Biskup Polka Dance, April 26th
Lisa Biskup received a heart transplant when she was only 23 years old. She lived for 16 years without complications, however, she died suddenly at the age of 37.

She was an avid polka dancer and her dad, Ron Biskup, put on a polka fundraiser to honor Lisa and to support the Michigan Donor Family
Council. Lisa was able to give the gift of life to others through her gift of corneal and liver donation.

The money raised from this event will go to support sending pediatric transplant recipients to Camp Michitanki, a transplant camp for kids put together by the University of Michigan Transplant Center.