Give a Gift, Provide a Transplant

Less than a decade ago, West Michigan patients who needed heart or lung transplants were referred to the University of Michigan's Medical Center in Ann Arbor or to hospitals outside the state.

Today, patients from West Michigan and outside the state are now being refered here to Spectrum Health because of the Richard DeVos Heart and Lung Transplant Program.

In 1997, Richard DeVos traveled to the U.K. where Dr. Asghar Khaghaniover gave him a new heart.  At that time he found the need to make a program like avilable in the West Michigan community, bringing care closer to home for many transplant patients.   It is the only program in the state to perform combined heart/lung transplants in the past 18 years, completing one in 2013 and another in 2015.

When he couldn't afford treatment, a clinical trial prolonged Jim Blum's (right photo) life so he could later be matched to a lung transplant.  Read more about Jim's story.

Your donation to this program supports a special need for our community, it supports families recieving care without having to leave the state, and it supports research and eduation on heart and lung transplants within the health care industry.