Paying It Forward

In early 2019, David Galbenski faced a dilemma.  Suffering from a rare autoimmune liver disease called PSC, he was placed on the UNOS transplant list but would likely be waiting for years while his health further deteriorated.  To get a transplant sooner, doctors encouraged him to consider living donor liver transplant. He and his wife, Lynn, didn’t know much about it but after they did their research, they reached out to family members to find a possible donor. Luckily their brother-in-law, Mark, stepped forward and was a match.  

In November 2019, Mark donated his left liver lobe to Dave at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. Within two months, both livers grew back to full size and both men are doing well today.  After the transplant, Dave and Lynn realized that unlike living donor kidney transplant, the public’s awareness of living donor liver transplant was low. They decided they wanted to help increase awareness of living donor liver transplant so more lives could be saved.  Dave is an attorney and an entrepreneur while Lynn has an MBA in Marketing.  Together they ran and sold a successful legal staffing business.  Now they are using their skills to help the transplant community.