“I wouldn’t be here today if I hadn’t received a kidney from my dad,” said 19-year-old Levi Faber who underwent a transplant when he was just 2 years old.
Now the Cascade, Michigan resident is paying it forward by using a special work of art to help educate the local community and encourage organ donation registration.
For the next month, Faber’s artwork — a large-scale display that’s 7 feet high x 12 feet wide — will be hanging at St. John Hospital & Medical Center in Detroit.
“It’s made out of wood,” Faber said. “It’s hundreds of wood silhouettes that represent the thousands of people who need lifesaving organ transplants, whether it be kidneys, tissues or organs.”
The “Donate Life” art installation will be located on the campus of SJH&MC in the Boll Professional Building One lobby. The kick-off is Monday, April 4, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Those viewing Faber’s artwork will be given the opportunity to register as an organ donor on-site through the Gift of Life.
The art itself is interactive. When people register at the Transplant Specialty Center on Monday, they will be able to place a kidney into the open location of the wooden cutout figure on the wall and become a “life-saver.”
Right now, just at St John’s Hospital alone, there are 308 people waiting for a kidney transplant, officials say. An estimated 124,000 men, women and children awaiting some type of organ transplants nationwide.
Get more information about organ donation at giftoflifemichigan.org.
Source: http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2016/04/04/michigan-teen-encourages-organ-donation-through-art/
