Secretary Benson promotes Michigan Organ Donor Registry in honor of Donate Life Month

LANSING, Mich. – Today, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson joined state partners and organ and tissue donation advocates to recognize April as Donate Life Month. She spoke alongside Chief Deputy State Treasurer Jeff Guilfoyle, Gift of Life Michigan President & CEO Dorrie Dils, and Eversight President & CEO Diane Hollingsworth. Rachel Kuntzsch, a heart transplant recipient from Lansing, also shared her story on how an organ donation saved her life. 

Residents can join the Michigan Donor Registry at Michigan.gov/OrganDonation.  

"Our goal is to make it easier for everyone to sign up to become a donor and give that gift of sight or gift of life,” Secretary Benson said. “Even as we celebrate so many impressive accomplishments this year, there are still more people waiting for transplants than there are organs available. We still need to close that gap – but we have made so much progress and so many lives have been saved and transformed thanks to the many Michiganders who have signed up for something bigger than themselves.” 

In 2024, more than 206,000 residents joined the Michigan Donor Registry bringing the total across the state up to 4.6 million. Maintained by the Michigan Department of State (MDOS), the registry is a confidential database of residents who wish to be organ and tissue donors. Everyone who signs up to be an organ and tissue donor receives a heart sticker for their driver's license or state identification card. 

In 2024, Gift of Life Michigan helped over 530 people become organ donors and a record-breaking 1,960 gave the gift of tissue. Surgeons transplanted 1,110 organs, the state’s second-highest annual total transforming the lives of patients needing bone, tendons, heart valves, and more. The number of people who have lost their lives while waiting for a transplant has decreased in the last four years. From 2020-2024, deaths on Michigan’s waiting list have decreased by 45%. 

“We are saving more lives than ever before thanks to the tremendous work of our partners at the Secretary of State and Michigan Department of Treasury,” said Dils. “Growing the Donor Registry is critical, as the need for transplants far exceeds the organs available to save the lives of the nearly 2,600 patients waiting in Michigan today.” 

“Michigan is tireless in their work to grow the registry, and it resulted in 2,477 Michigan donors giving sight in 2024, an 18 percent increase in saying yes to donation. Their selfless gifts restored sight to 1,300 Michiganders,” said Hollingsworth. “Making the choice to be a donor is a shining example of kindness in the world today, with ripple effects that have impacted entire communities. When given the opportunity, Michiganders are overwhelmingly generous in the result to change lives through the gift of eyes, organ and tissue donation.”  

Michigan offers several convenient ways to join the Michigan Donor Registry and save lives. Michiganders can add their name online through the Online Michigan Organ Donor Registry, at any Secretary of State branch office or self-service station, or when filing their taxes. In 2023, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the Check Your Heart Act into law, making Michigan the first state in the nation to let people add their names to the registry on their state income tax forms. So far this tax season, registrations through the state income tax forms have increased by over 60%.  

“Last year, 183,000 Michiganders checked the box on their income tax return. Many of those folks were already on the registry, but it led to 14,000 new names being added,” Guilfoyle said. “The checkoff will positively impact lives, potentially saving someone’s mother, someone’s child, or someone’s friend.” 

In 2018, Kuntzsch was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, a rare idiopathic condition. Ten days later on Thanksgiving Day, she received the gift of life through a heart donation.  

“Since that time, I’ve had the opportunity to climb mountains across our beautiful country. Next week, I will see my son graduate from college. I have had the opportunity to life a full life with no limitations, and I am so very grateful,” Kuntzsch said. “I also have the opportunity to give back working with Gift of Life Michigan to help send that message that registering to become an organ donor is both a personal decision to the donor and a very personal decision to the recipients. People like me all over the state of Michigan and beyond are so full of gratitude for people who made the choice to give that gift of life.” 

Learn more about the state organ donation registry online at Michigan.gov/OrganDonation.