How to Save a Life

by Published: Feb 17, 2010

Gift of Life: Stefan Randjelovic, a senior in busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion, received a kid­ney trans­plant from a donor when he was 11 years old. Photo By: Dan Hamilton | News Editor

Stefan Randjelovic received a kid­ney trans­plant in Aug. of 1997 when he was 11 years old, and thus feels thank­ful for those who are will­ing to give the gift of life by donat­ing an organ.

Randjelovic, a senior in the busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion pro­gram, believes that the Gift of Life Campus Challenge will encour­age more peo­ple to reg­is­ter to be donors to help shorten the wait­ing list.

Randjelovic received a kid­ney trans­plant when he was 11 years old. He was not put on the wait­ing list because he received a trans­plant from a rel­a­tive. He noted that he was for­tu­nate given his AB blood type that allowed him to be able to receive a kid­ney from almost anyone.

Michigan’s Organ Donation Registry, Gift of Life, Michigan’s Campus Challenge, looks to draw in col­lege stu­dents around the state. The Campus Challenge is cur­rently in its sev­enth year and since its ini­ti­a­tion in 2004, has inspired over 22,000 peo­ple to sign up on the donor registry.

Randjelovic said, “it’s a good thing for peo­ple to be organ donors…I have plenty of respect for any­one who is will­ing to give some­one else an exten­sion of their life when theirs is over.”

Ferris is one of 16 Michigan col­leges or uni­ver­si­ties involved in the pro­gram. According to the Michigan Department of State, there are just under 3,000 Michigan res­i­dents cur­rently wait­ing for an organ trans­plant. Nationally the num­ber is over 100,000.

Although he is thank­ful to have received an organ dona­tion, Randjelovic said, “I don’t blame any­one who would not want to be an organ donor. It is not some­thing sim­ple.” He went on to say, “I never had to go on dial­y­sis which is a lucky thing. I think it is a good thing for peo­ple to be organ donors, I know I would much rather have a trans­planted kid­ney than have to sit through dial­y­sis three days a week.”

Gift of Life is Michigan’s non-profit, fed­er­ally des­ig­nated organ and tis­sue recov­ery that pro­vides all ser­vices nec­es­sary for organ dona­tion in the state.
For more infor­ma­tion on the Campus Challenge visit the Gift of Life Web site at giftoflifemichi​gan​.org.

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  • http://www.giftoflifemichigan.org Jennifer Tislerics

    Everyone who wants to sign up on the Donor Registry and give Ferris State University the credit for the Campus Challenge can do so at:

    http://​www​.giftoflifemichi​gan​.org/​g​o​/​fsu

    Thanks for your sup­port!
    Jennifer Tislerics
    Special Events Coordinator
    Gift of Life Michigan

  • David J Undis

    Stefan Randjelovic was very lucky to get a Kidney trans­plant. Over 50% of Americans on the national wait­ing list will die before they get a trans­plant. Most of these deaths are need­less. Americans bury or cre­mate 20,000 trans­plantable organs every year.

    There is a sim­ple way to put a big dent in the organ short­age – give donated organs first to peo­ple who have agreed to donate their own organs when they die.

    Giving organs first to organ donors will con­vince more peo­ple to reg­is­ter as organ donors. It will also make the organ allo­ca­tion sys­tem fairer. People who aren’t pre­pared to share the gift of life should go to the back of the trans­plant wait­ing list as long as there is a short­age of organs.

    Anyone who wants to donate their organs to oth­ers who have agreed to donate theirs can join LifeSharers. LifeSharers is a non-profit net­work of organ donors who agree to offer their organs first to other organ donors when they die. Membership is free at http://​www​.life​shar​ers​.org or by call­ing 1–888-ORGAN88. There is no age limit, par­ents can enroll their minor chil­dren, and no one is excluded due to any pre-existing med­ical con­di­tion. LifeSharers has over 13,500 mem­bers, includ­ing 405 mem­bers in Michigan.

    Please con­tact me — Dave Undis, Executive Director of LifeSharers — if your read­ers would like to learn more about our inno­v­a­tive approach to increas­ing the num­ber of organ donors. I can arrange inter­views with some of our local mem­bers if you’re inter­ested. My email address is daveundis@lifesharers.org. My phone num­ber is 615−351−8622.

  • http://www.giftoflifemichigan.org Jennifer Tislerics

    Mr. Undis scours the inter­net for sto­ries about organ dona­tion that he can com­ment on, to plug his “donor club,” rather than pro­mot­ing the offi­cial donor reg­istries of each state.

    The Michigan Organ Donor Registry is the appro­pri­ate way to indi­cate your wish to become a donor, because upon every hos­pi­tal death in Michigan (and many deaths out­side of hos­pi­tals) the Michigan Organ Donor Registry is checked to see if that per­son indi­cated their wish to donate organs and tissues.

    More than 1.7 mil­lion Michigan res­i­dents have signed up on the Michigan Organ Donor Registry, a legally bind­ing doc­u­ment of gift. You can sign up (and help FSU in the Gift of Life Campus Challenge) at http://​www​.giftoflifemichi​gan​.org/​g​o​/​fsu