Living Liver Foundation

A glorious summer night in Louisville celebrating our inaugural Living Donor Awareness Game on July 19!

Thank you Hana Ibrahim and the Louisville Bats for your incredible support of the evening! We look forward to coming back in 2025 and taking the event to the next level!

Thank you Mulligans Living Kidney Donors ( MLKD ) and LeighAnn Saylor for your amazing work. It was a joy collaborating! What great work you are doing as we go after zero wait list!

Thank you living donors and transplant medical professionals for your respective roles in giving us transplant recipients a second chance at life.

YOU. ARE. AWESOME!

Next stop for our Living Donor Awareness Game 2024 tour is with the Cincinnati Reds on August 30!

If you’d like to bring one to your area, let us know!

Living Liver Foundation
Louisville Bats

Grateful for all my special moments at the 2024 Transplant Games of America in Birmingham, Alabama! Excited for one more this evening at the Farewell Ceremony as we bring this Games to a close.

Thank you living donors, you are our angels on earth and our heroes! Special shout out to my living donor, my brother-in-law, Mark Dybis.

Thank you donor families for your dedication to organ transplantation as we honor your loved ones who live on and create special moments for their recipients.

Thank you transplant medical professionals for sharing your talents every day to save the lives of those in need of an organ.

I loved connecting with friends again from the 2022 Games and having amazing conversations with so many new friends this year as we share stories, create special moments and get excited about 2026!

I loved having the opportunity to share our story during the opening ceremony building awareness about living organ donation and making plans with so many of you looking to collaborate to bring a Living Donor Awareness Game to your baseball team in your area.

Finally, I loved spending the week with my wife, Lynn. You are an amazing partner in our transplant journey!

While I thoroughly enjoy competing in the Games, the special moments with others and paying the gift of life forward is what these Games are all about!

Thank you Transplant Life Foundation for all you do to make an incredible impact in the transplant community.

A fun opening weekend at the 2024 Transplant Games of America in Birmingham, Alabama!

Dave had the opportunity to speak at the Opening Ceremony at Legacy Arena amplifying the message of living organ donation, honor living donors and highlight our work at the Living Liver Foundation to eventually get to zero wait list.

Inspired by the incredible people in this community sharing their stories, giving recipients a second chance at life and celebrating special moments together.

Here’s to a great week ahead. Dave is competing in track and field tomorrow after winning a silver medal in the 5k on Saturday.

Lynn is advancing the mission through volunteering at the Games at the Lyrics for Life and Pickleball competitions.

Team Michigan
Transplant Life Foundation

Great day for our Living Donor Awareness Game at Jimmy John’s Field!

Awesome story on 19-year old Conner McKenzie on FOX 2 Detroit last night. His life was saved by anonymous liver donor! How amazing!

And, a living liver donor meets their recipient for the first time tonight at the game!

Let’s celebrate and honor these amazing heroes and angels on earth!

Henry Ford Health
United Shore Professional Baseball League
Living Liver Foundation
Transplant Life Foundation
Team Michigan
National Kidney Foundation

19-year-old gets new liver from living donor: 'I'm not going to waste it' "I'm forever grateful. He saved my life and gave me a second chance," said 19-year-old Conner MacKenzie. "I'm not going to waste it."

Fired up for the Living Liver Foundation 3rd Annual Living Donor Awareness Game in partnership with Henry Ford Health this Friday, June 28 at 7:05 pm at Jimmy John’s Field.

Enjoyed chatting with Tom Jordan and Kevin Dietz earlier today on WJR Radio about the events of the evening. Would love to see you there to help honor our living donor heroes!

https://wjr-late-mornings.simplecast.com/episodes/jimmy-johns-field-hosts-the-living-donor-awareness-baseball-game-WDd1Lu11

United Shore Professional Baseball League

Jimmy John's Field Hosts the Living Donor Awareness Baseball Game | All Talk with Jordan and Dietz June 26, 2024 ~ This Friday, Jimmy John's Field will lost the 3rd annual Living Donor Awareness baseball game. Dave Galbenski, Co-Founder of Living Liver Foundation, previews the game with Kevin and Tom.

We'd love to see you at the third annual Living Donor Awareness Game at Jimmy John's Field on Friday night, June 28.

We host this event with Henry Ford Health to honor living donors, educate the public about living donation and inspire more donation.

https://livingliver.org/living-donor/

Henry Ford Health
Team Michigan
United Shore Professional Baseball League
Transplant Life Foundation

Third Annual Living Donor Awareness Night - Living Liver Foundation PIctured above: Dr. Marwan Abouljoud celebrates the meeting of altruistic living kidney donor Lindsey Dryden (right) with kidney transplant recipient Cynthia Williams (left). They met for the first time on the field.

At the Living Liver Foundation, our mission is to Honor, Educate and Inspire.

We pursued the designation of April 11 as National Living Donor Day to amplify the Educate pillar of our mission.

The goal, get the 4-1-1 out on living organ donation.

Check out the news story below by Ashley Smith of Fox 19 where she shares the often unknown regenerative ability of our human body that allows us to donate a portion of our liver to another while alive because it regrows to full size in about 8 weeks in both donor AND recipient!

And, you will be inspired by the incredible generosity of UC law student, Shannon Black, who altruistically gave a portion of her liver to save the life of 3-year old, Curtis Binkley.

We are grateful for the partnership and collaboration with the Cincinnati Reds and Cincinnati Children's Hospital to utilize baseball as a platform to achieve our mission.

Living organ donation is the ultimate double play, it not only saves the life of the recipient, it frees up another organ from the deceased organ donation registry to save the life of another.

Considering becoming a living liver donor?

See www.liverforbrad.com for the story about my good friend, Brad Jenkins, and his need for a donor.

Living Liver Foundation
MLB
FOX19
Brad Jenkins
Winnie Hart
Chris Klug Foundation
Transplant Life Foundation
Rom LaPointe
Mark Winter
Bob Lenz
Lorrie Brignac Lee
Steve Satterwhite
Entrepreneurs' Organization
Alex Burkulas
American Liver Foundation






https://www.fox19.com/2024/04/11/national-living-donor-day-honors-local-donor-recipient/

National Living Donor Day honors local donor and recipient The human liver will regenerate in weeks in both donor and recipient

Our MLB 24 Hours of Life Project in 2024 included a scheduled day game with MLB’s oldest franchise, the Cincinnati Reds, for the 2nd Annual Living Donor Awareness Game on April 11 to Celebrate National Living Donor Day!

While the rains postponed the playing of the game and pre-game festivities until August 30, our honorees were able to get together with their extended families for lunch and build anticipation for their next visit to Great American Ball Park at the end of the summer.

Check out the news story below by Katie Kapusta of Spectrum where she highlights the incredible generosity of UC law student, Shannon Black, who altruistically gave a portion of her liver to save the life of 3-year old, Curtis Binkley.

We are grateful for the partnership and collaboration with the Cincinnati Reds and Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

Living organ donation is the ultimate double play, it not only saves the life of the recipient, it frees up another organ from the deceased organ donation registry to save the life of another.

Considering becoming a living liver donor?

See www.liverforbrad.com for the story about my good friend, Brad Jenkins, and his need for a donor.

Living Liver Foundation
MLB
Spectrum News 1 Ohio






https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/news/2024/04/05/living-organ-donation-saves-lives

Living liver donation saved young boy's life Curtis Binkley got a new liver at 3.

It was an emotional and impactful night at Citizens Bank Park during our inaugural Phillies Living Donor Awareness Game on April 11.

Living kidney donor and hero, MaryBeth Foster, met her recipient, Joseph DeMayo, for the first time on the field prior to throwing out ceremonial first pitches with the head of transplant Temple Health, Dr. Kenneth Chavin and Julian Harmon, a Temple Health employee and kidney transplant recipient.

What a way to conclude our MLB 24 Hours of Life Project in 2024 with the Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies choosing to honor living donors by scheduling Living Donor Awareness Games on April 10 and 11 to Celebrate National Living Donor Day!

It was great to collaborate with the Philadelphia Phillies and Temple Health. Here’s to another celebration in 2025!

Thanks for the great support by the Philadelphia media community to amplify this amazing story!

Living organ donation is the ultimate double play, it not only saves the life of the recipient, it frees up another organ from the deceased organ donation registry to save the life of another.

Philadelphia Phillies
FOX 29
Living Liver Foundation
MLB

1 kidney donation bonds 2 strangers forever in gift of life as they meet for the first time Two strangers bond for life over a kidney transplant and met for the first time at a Phillies game Thursday night.

It’s National Living Donor Day!

Today, we honor living donors and medical professionals as the heroes that make the miracle of living organ donation possible.

Today, we share key info about organ transplantation to educate others about the process and journey.

Did you know our liver regenerates to full size in 8 weeks after the life-saving donation?

Today, we highlight the stories of living donors to inspire others to consider becoming one.

Today. We. Celebrate. Life.

Check out my specific vision on a world where no one dies waiting for the availability of a liver or kidney to save their life.

https://blog.eonetwork.org/2024/04/how-one-entrepreneur-utilizes-visualization-to-promote-living-organ-donation/

Entrepreneurs' Organization
Living Liver Foundation
Transplant Life Foundation
Chris Klug Foundation

How One Entrepreneur Utilizes Visualization To Promote Living Organ Donation The EO Blog Dave Galbenski can visualize a world with zero waitlists for organ transplants and works tirelessly toward that life-saving goal.

One of our co-founders, Dave Galbenski, appeared on the first episode of the National Day Podcast, hosted by Jordan Alexander, to get ready to celebrate National Living Donor Day on April 11.

Listen in as he shares the history and inception of National Living Donor Day and shares his personal stories of the journey through a living liver transplant that has resulted in a daily gratitude to celebrate life.

We are excited to lead off our week heading into National Living Donor Day on April 11 with an amazing living liver transplant story that will be a key part of our Living Donor Awareness Game with the Cincinnati Reds on April 11.

Living donor awareness: College student donates part of her liver to little boy The second annual Living Donor Awareness Game is April 11.

Three cheers to the Cincinnati Reds for allowing us to host a Living Donor Awareness Game at their stadium on July 19. With their help, we were able to honor living donors, educate fans about living donation and hopefully inspire many to consider becoming a living donor. In a pre-game ceremony, we honored two living donor liver pairs (brothers Justin Ketron and Derek Boyer and mother Belinda Horan and her 7 year old son, Xander), Wake Forest Demon Deacon Baseball Coach Tom Walter (who donated one of his kidneys to a player) and Dr. Anna Peters, Associate Medical Director of the Liver Transplant Program at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Before the game, the brothers appeared on Fox 19's morning show and had the fun of throwing out the first pitch. It's all captured in this terrific short video Zach Wells, kidney recipient and owner of Film Real Productions, generously created for us. Thanks Zach!

DonorAwarenessRedsGiants This is "DonorAwarenessRedsGiants" by Film Real Productions on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

We're happy to share that our second annual Living Donor Awareness Night went well. We loved watching altruistic living kidney donor, Lyndsey Dryden, meet her recipient, Cynthia Williams, for the first time on the mound. Also enjoyed seeing 40+ living kidney and liver donors honored as the game's hometown heroes. Living donors are angels on earth.

Living organ donors honored at Jimmy John's Field for second chance at life Friday night at Jimmy John’s Field in Utica it isn’t your ordinary summer night at the ball park.

We are fired up for tonight! Living Donor Awareness Night! Altruistic living kidney donor meeting her recipient for the first time on the mound during ceremonial first pitch and 40+ living donors and their recipients getting recognized on field as Hometown Heroes.

Our co-founder, Dave, had a blast promoting the event on WJR with Tom Jordan and Kevin Dietz yesterday. He had a Field of Dreams moment doing his best impersonation of Ernie Harwell’s home run call on the station that he grew up listening to Tigers games and hearing Ernie’s great storytelling as he brought the game to life for him.

Dave’s gratitude below:

Thanks Ernie for the memories and developing my love of baseball.

Thanks Mom for allowing me to listen to the west coast games past midnight.

Thanks Mark Dybis, my living liver donor, for allowing me to continue to make new baseball memories, like tonight.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dave-galbenski-all-talk-with-jordan-and-dietz/id1599954861?i=1000621038877

Henry Ford Health United Shore Professional Baseball League

Join the Living Liver Foundation and LifeCenter for the inaugural Living Donor Awareness Game on July 19 at the Great American Ball Park to watch the Cincinnati Reds take on the San Francisco Giants with game time at 7:10 pm.

We are honoring living donation within our transplant community, supporting living organ donors for their courage and compassion to save a life, while acknowledging the medical professionals that make organ transplant possible. The triple play of living donor organ transplant!

On Friday night, July 14 please join us for the second annual Living Donor Awareness Night at Jimmy John’s baseball field in Utica, Michigan. At 7:05 p.m. the Utica Unicorns will take on the Westside Woolly Mammoths. Fireworks follow the game.

This event is sponsored by the Living Liver Foundation and Henry Ford Health to honor living donors, educate fans about living organ donation and inspire attendees to explore becoming a living donor. The game will begin with a very special opening pitch. An altruistic living kidney donor and his or her recipient will meet for the very first time on the mound. Behind home plate, over 40 living kidney donors and living liver donors will sit together along with their recipients and guests. During the game, fans will learn about living donor liver transplant and living donor kidney transplant via short videos on the scoreboard. In addition, information tables will be staffed by Henry Ford Health and the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan. Between two innings, the living donors will take the field to be honored as the game’s hometown heroes.

Living organ donation helps increase the number of patients whose lives can be saved via transplant. In 2022, about 6% of liver transplants and 23% of kidney transplants were living donor transplants. With more awareness and education, these percentages can grow to help close the gap that exists between who needs a transplant and who can get one via a living donor or deceased donor.

Tickets are still available and range from $6 to $20. Purchase online or by calling the box office at 248-759-5278. Parking is free. Please join us!

https://livingliver.org/second-annual-living-donor-awareness-night/

Each year, the Chris Klug Foundation recognizes three members of the transplant community via the Hero Award, the Bounce Back Give Back Award and the Community Champion Award. We're excited to share that Dave Galbenski won the Bounce Back Give Back Award this year. Congrats Dave!

Dave Galbenski Wins Bounce Back, Give Back Award from CKF! - Living Liver Foundation Each year, the Chris Klug Foundation (CKF) recognizes three members of the transplant community. These individuals are lights of the transplant community and strive to promote organ, eye, and tissue donation. They have achieved incredible accomplishments and blaze the way for those in the community....

Fired up for the Living Donor Awareness Game today! Join us tonight to celebrate life and honor the heroes that make living organ donation possible. Can’t think of a better way to spend a Tuesday night than being at Truist Park amongst friends watching the Braves!

The Atlanta Braves Living Donor Awareness Game is TOMORROW! This game is going to be a tremendous gathering of more than 250 members of the transplant community, and you don’t want to miss out!

We are going to have an informal, pre-game gathering at the Yard House starting around 4pm prior to the game for people to mix and mingle with fellow community members celebrating the Living Donor Awareness night.

For the bobblehead collectors in this group, the first 15,000 fans will receive a Matt Olson bobblehead!

⚾️Get your tickets here:
https://fevogm.com/event/Livingdonor
Emory Transplant Center
Piedmont Transplant Institute
Living Liver Foundation
Atlanta Braves
John Albers

Fired up to be partnering with the Georgia Transplant Foundation for our inaugural Living Donor Awareness Game on April 25th! Hope you can join us!

The inaugural Living Donor Awareness Braves Game is coming up soon! We would love to see our community come together to show our support for living donors and raise awareness for this important cause. A portion of each ticket will support GTF.

Everyone who purchases a ticket by April 17th will automatically enter a drawing for an autographed Ian Anderson Baseball! The drawing will take place next week. Get your tickets today.
https://fevogm.com/event/Livingdonor

Emory Transplant Center
Piedmont Transplant Institute
Living Liver Foundation
Atlanta Braves

Here’s the 4-1-1 on Living Liver Transplants on National Living Donor Day on 4-11!

Imagine a world where no one dies on the transplant list while waiting for the availability of a liver. It. Can. Happen. By spreading the word on the life-saving miracle of living liver transplant . . . It. Will. Happen. Help us out by sharing this post.





CareDx, Inc.
Gift of Life Michigan Hospital Partners
Henry Ford Health
American Society of Transplantation
American Society of Transplant Surgeons - ASTS
Georgia Transplant Foundation
American Transplant Foundation
National Day Calendar
American Liver Foundation
Transplant Life Foundation

Inform. Honor. Inspire. Help us get the 4-1-1 out today on April 11 as we celebrate National Living Donor Day. Share your story and facts about living organ donation. Honor living organ donors and the medical professionals that make it all possible. Become a living donor to help save TWO lives by saving the recipient of your organ donation while making available a deceased organ for a person on the transplant wait list.

For the origin story (and more) about National Living Donor Day check out National Day Calendar

Help us save lives today by sharing this post.



Transplant Life Foundation
Gift of Life Michigan Hospital Partners
CareDx, Inc.
American Liver Foundation
American Kidney Foundation
American Kidney Fund
Henry Ford Health
Georgia Transplant Foundation
American Transplant Foundation
American Society of Transplantation
American Society of Transplant Surgeons - ASTS
National Kidney Registry

We are so excited to announce our new National Living Donor Day proclamation to be celebrated on Tuesday, April 11th to advance our mission of saving lives through honoring living donors and building awareness about the power of living organ donation. We would be so grateful for you to spread the word today about this new proclamation and celebrate with us on April 11.

MEDIA ALERT | NEW DAY PROCLAMATION | NATIONAL LIVING DONOR DAY | April 11 The Living Liver Foundation and National Day Calendar form a collaboration to celebrate National Living Donor Day on April 11 each year.

On Thanksgiving Day, our family had much to be thankful for. Henry Ford gave us the opportunity to generate awareness about living donor liver transplant in three major ways. First, Dave and Mark were invited to be a part of Detroit’s Thanksgiving Day parade as Henry Ford Health parade float participants. They wore matching jackets and Detroit Lions hats as they waved to fans along the parade route. Local TV station WDIV broadcasted the parade and explained to viewers that Dave and Mark, a transplant patient and his living donor, were a part of the parade float this year.
Second, the station created a special two minute educational segment which was shown to viewers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfr46NxbZ1o. It featured Dr. Frank McGeorge who is an ER doctor at Henry Ford Hospital as well as a health reporter for WDIV. During the segment, Dr. McGeorge interviewed Dr. Deepak Venkat who is a liver transplant specialist at Henry Ford. Dr. Venkat said that he’s been a part of 30 or 40 living donor transplants in his six years with Henry Ford. He added that living donation is the most gratifying part of his work because it’s a true display of human generosity. He also explained how living donor liver transplant works and shared an animation which showed a portion of a donor’s liver being given to a recipient. In both patients, their livers grew back to full size in about eight weeks. Dr. McGeorge also interviewed Dave and Mark to get their perspective three years after their transplant experience. Dave shared his deep gratitude for Mark’s gift while Mark said the experience changed his life. He said it was a gift that was given to him because it changed his perspective regarding what’s important in life.
Finally, Henry Ford Health also invited us to be a part of this special Thanksgiving commercial about gratitude. In it, Dave recounts his personal medical journey that led to liver failure and shared his gratitude for Mark’s amazing gift. As Dave’s wife, I was honored to be a part of this commercial as was Mark’s wife and Dave’s parents. By being willing to share our family’s story, we were able to reach thousands of Michigan residents with information about living donor liver transplant. The spot aired throughout Thanksgiving Day: during the Detroit parade, the afternoon Detroit Lions football game and the late evening news. Henry Ford Health said the spot has generated lots of positive community response. We also experienced the impact ourselves. After the parade, Dave and Mark were approached by a woman who had been considering being a non-directed living donor for someone she did not know. After getting to know them and their story, she said she was going to take the next step regarding donor evaluation. In addition, Dave and our daughter, Sarah, were approached by a woman considering living donor liver transplant. They were able to answer many of her and her family’s questions about Henry Ford Health and the procedure.
We were pleased to have three opportunities to increase awareness of a procedure that is saving lives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcNEQuLiKCw

"I am thankful for my second chance at life."– I Am Henry – Thanksgiving 2022 Dave Galbenski is celebrating Thanksgiving and expressing gratitude to all who contributed to his living-donor liver transplant at Henry Ford Hospital. You c...

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.
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 the recipient and donor are both doing well post-transplant.

I Am Henry - Lions Fans in Uniform Some fans have even more reason to cheer this season. They've been the recipient of life-saving treatment at Henry Ford Health, and they're embracing a healt...

Dave is excited to represent Team Michigan at the 2022 Transplant Games of America in San Diego! The Games begin July 30 with a 5k, Opening Parade and the Opening Ceremony. All made possible by living donor, Mark Dybis, Henry Ford Health and family and friends that have given support during his transplant journey. Each day is a gift, make it a great one! Shout out to Fox 2 Detroit and Ingrid Kelley for their coverage yesterday. Check it out.

https://www.fox2detroit.com/video/1098562

Henry Ford Health transplant recipient readies for Olympic-style games with others David Galbenski loves sports, he spends time running and playing golf - but he wasn’t sure he would be able to continue competing when he was confronted with a medical condition.

Unlike living kidney transplant, many people aren't familiar with living liver transplant. On Friday night, we partnered with Henry Ford Health at Jimmy John’s Field to increase awareness.

We included an opening pitch, a special video and a home town hero. Check out the link in bio for the coverage on NBC affiliate, WDIV Channel 4

On Friday night, July 8 the Westside Woolly Mammoths take on the Utica Unicorns at Jimmy John’s Field in Utica, Michigan. These two independent baseball league teams won’t just be playing baseball, they’ll also be helping promote living donor liver transplant to 4,500 fans. How? As a 2019 recipient of a living donor liver, I had an idea a few months ago to combine my love of baseball and the desire to promote living donor liver transplant. The idea was an event that could be sponsored by our Foundation, the Living Liver Foundation (www.livingliver.org). When we contacted Jimmy John’s Field to pitch them the idea, they jumped right in. They understood the urgency to promote this life saving procedure few know much about. Together, we came up with three ways to highlight it.
First, the opening pitch will be led by four people who know liver transplant well: a Henry Ford Health transplant surgeon and nurse as well as a living liver donor and his or her recipient. For this first event, my brother-in-law, Mark Dybis, and I will serve as the living liver donor and transplant recipient duo. We experienced it at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit on November 25, 2019. My transplant surgeon, Dr. Atsushi Yoshida will be the featured surgeon. A special transplant nurse will be identified soon.
Second, during the game a short Henry Ford Health video will be shown on the scoreboard which explains to fans how living donor liver transplant works. It will answer questions such as: who can become a living donor? What is the screening process like? How does a donor donate part of his or her liver to a recipient? Does the liver regenerate to full size in the donor and recipient? Which Michigan transplant center has the most experience with living donor liver transplant?
Finally, Mark will be honored as the game’s home town hero for having the courage to donate a portion of his liver to save a life. This will also allow fans to see that Mark is doing well 2.5 years after donation.
A fireworks show will occur right after the game. If you live in southeastern Michigan, consider joining us. Tickets are still available. If everything goes well, we hope to make it an annual event at Jimmy John’s Field and use the event as a template to promote living donor liver transplant at other sports venues.