Dave and our brother-in-law Mark, Dave’s living donor, were offered a terrific opportunity to generate awareness of living donor liver transplant. Their transplant was performed in 2019 by Henry Ford Health System. A few months ago, Henry Ford developed the “I am Henry” campaign. Henry is not a person, so much as an attitude. Equal parts drive, determination and love. It’s everything that embodies the human spirit and its drive to do and feel better. As the official healthcare provider of the Detroit Lions, Henry Ford asked Mark and Dave to be part of the campaign as Lions fans who have even more reason to cheer this season. With Mark’s help, Dave has been the recipient of life-saving treatment at Henry Ford Health, and they’re both embracing a healthy future while they cheer on the Detroit Lions.
The TV commercial was filmed at a suburban house in metro Detroit. During the commercial, Dave had to flip a piece of steak while Mark said “We may not block for each other” while Dave followed with “but we did team up to achieve victory”. The poor piece of steak was flipped about 75 times before the crew felt they had the footage they needed. But Mark and Dave had a lot of fun dressing up as Detroit Lions. During Lions games, the TV spot has been shown on the Fox network and a radio spot has been playing on local stations. In addition, there are a few locations at Ford Field where photos of Dave and Mark appear on the concrete walls. As a result, thousands of Lions fans have been exposed to the concept of Living Donor Liver Transplant. And the fans can see that Dave and Mark are both doing well post-transplant. You can watch the TV spot here.