News Details

LIFE Walk/Run for organ donation steps off July 24
June 10, 2010
    
     More than 1,000 runners and walkers are expected to gather on historic Belle Isle Saturday, July 24, to participate in LIFE Walk/Run – the largest organ and tissue awareness event in Michigan.
 
     LIFE Walk/Run, which is in its 13th year, serves two purposes. It raises awareness statewide about the critical need for organ, eye and tissue donation today. It’s also a crucial fundraiser for the Gift of Life Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program which helps spread the word about the urgent need for organ transplants in minority populations. Minorities have disproportionately higher rates of illnesses that often damage kidneys and other organs.
 
     Runners and walkers will converge for a day of inspiration, food, music and exercise. Friends and family members of organ and tissue donors, organ transplant recipients – even patients on the waiting list - will gather to help support the critical cause.
 
     In Michigan today, nearly 3,000 people are waiting for life-saving organ transplants – 80 percent need kidneys to help them survive. Forty percent on the state’s waiting list are African American, Hispanic or Middle Eastern.
 
     The event steps off at 9 a.m. (8:30 a.m. registration) at Belle Isle Park-Casino, East Jefferson Avenue at East Grand Boulevard in Detroit. Cost is $15 for walkers, who can choose between a one-mile or a 5K route, and $25 for runners, who can take a 5K or 10K route. Organizers also welcome donations without participation.
 
     The event is co-sponsored by Gift of Life Michigan, the state’s only organ and tissue recovery organization, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
     
     To register online or to make a tax-deductable financial contribution, go to www.motteplifewalk.org. Those wishing to join the Michigan Organ Donor Registry can do so at www.giftoflifemichigan.org or by calling 1.800.482.4881.
 
      LIFE Walk/Run will feature longtime supporters of organ and tissue donation, Diana and Glenda Lewis of WXYZ-TV Channel 7 in Detroit; legendary Detroit Tiger Willie Horton and his daughter Terri, a lung recipient; and Steve and Virginia Selvaggio of Western Market. Virginia donated a kidney to her husband, Steve.
 
     Musician Hunter Brucks, the 2008 winner of Detroit Music Awards Record of the Year, will be a special guest this year. Brucks, of Monroe, wrote and recorded “Second Chance,” a tribute to organ and tissue donors and their families. He will perform the song at a post-race gathering.
 
     Gift of Life Michigan and its partners are asking 1 million more Michigan residents to say yes to organ and tissue donation in 2010, hoping to bolster the state’s registry and increase life-saving transplants.
 
     Michigan ranks 42nd nationwide in the percentage of licensed drivers who have documented their wish to someday become organ, eye and tissue donors.
 
     One reason Michigan trails other states: Many residents aren't aware that signing the back of a driver's license or state ID is no longer the way to express a wish to be a donor. Since 2007, people join the Michigan Organ Donor Registry by going to giftoflifemichigan.org, by calling 800.482.4881 or by visiting any Secretary of State branch office.