By Caitlyn Kienitz
Special for The State News
Frank Ferro, 47, plays volleyball four nights a week.
The game had been his hobby for years, but the games put on hold two years ago when he received a kidney transplant.
The Lansing resident received the kidney from his brother Patrick Ferro on January 19, 2004.
"Our family's really close," said Ferro, a state of Michigan employee. All four of Ferro's siblings were tested and found to be compatible donors.
Ferro knows he is one of the lucky ones. Right now 2,882 Michigan patients are waiting for a life-saving organ to become available. Last year, 84 Michigan patients died while on the transplant list.
To get more people on the donor lists, Gift of Life, the Michigan organ and tissue donation program, and the Michigan Department of State have joined forces with colleges and universities across the state for the third annual Gift of Life University Challenge.
Schools participating in the University Challenge encourage students and staff to become registered organ donors. Two traveling trophies will be awarded: one to the school that signs up the largest total number of donor registrants and one to the school that signs up the largest percentage in relation to student population.
MSU and the University of Michigan founded the event in 2004. In 2005, the event expanded beyond Michigan to include other colleges and universities.
Jennifer Tislerics, special events and partnerships coordinator for Gift of Life, said 18 schools were expected to participate this year. Nearly 9,000 people have joined the donor registry during the challenge's two years.
Tislerics encouraged students to tell family and friends to participate, as their registrations also count toward a university's total.
The Medical Technology Student Association is working to promote the event on campus. Melissa Czostkowski, the group's vice president and a clinical laboratory sciences senior, said the group has worked with local businesses to promote the event.
Christopher Malloy of Bath knows firsthand the benefits of the donor registry. The 21-year-old faced kidney problems throughout his life, which became most apparent during his junior year of high school.
"I had no energy," said Malloy, a cafeteria worker at General Motors Corp. "Life was just horrible. I'd come in after school and fall asleep on the floor."
Malloy's father had planned to donate one of his kidneys to his son in July 2002. One week before the scheduled surgery, Malloy was notified that another kidney had become available through a registered organ donor in Chicago.
"I could tell the difference the first day after surgery," Malloy said. "I couldn't move, but I was awake."
