DETROIT (WXYZ) — A new Michigan law will provide a tax credit of up to $10,000 to living organ donors. The law takes effect Jan. 1, 2025.
David Galbenski, a liver transplant recipient, shared his story of survival with 7 News Detroit.
"In 2013, I was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis, which has no known treatment until you enter end-stage liver disease," he explained.
Galbenski said when he entered end-stage liver disease, he became eligible for a transplant and a miracle happened in 2019 with the help of a living organ donor.
"I was the grateful recipient of a living donor, living transplant when my brother-in-law Mark Dybis gave me a portion of his liver to save my life," he said.
A bill sponsored by state Rep. Felicia Brabec recently became law, allowing living organ donors to receive up to a $10,000 tax credit for donating an organ. The money aims to reimburse donors for out-of-pocket expenses.
"Lost wages, travel and lodging expenses and child care expenses," Galbenski explained.
He said he received his transplant at Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital. Galbenski and other advocates for the new law say the hope is to double or triple the number of living organ donors in Michigan.
Patrick O'Brien is with Gift of Life Michigan.
"The number of living organ donors in our state has remained flat — well under 200 people. They are heroes doing this, and we just wanted to remove some of the financial barriers to get more people to say 'yes,'" he explained.
"Most people when they think about being an organ donor, they think about the heart on their driver's license. You can check a box going to renew your driver's license or when you fill out your Michigan income taxes, and that's being an organ donor after we die some day. But the other way to be a living organ donor, you would contact one of the eight transplant programs in the state of Michigan."
Hear more from Patrick O'Brien in the video player below:
Henry Ford Health is one of them. Dr. Jason Denny is the surgical director for the Living Kidney Donor Transplant program.
"I think that it could make people come who thought they couldn't donate come forward. Not everybody has a job that they can take a lot of time off," he explained.
"A couple of weeks of pay may be an issue for some people and maybe this makes burden a little easier to lower the stumbling block to allow people to give what they wanna give in their heart, even if their wallet doesn't match that at the time."
The incentive is giving transplant recipients like Galbenski a greater chance at survival and a fighting chance to experience life's special moments.
"I got to walk my daughter down the aisle June 8th of this year, a special moment that I wouldn't otherwise have been able to experience but for my brother-in-law Mark Dybis and the skilled professionals at Henry Ford Heath," he explained.
