In daughter's memory, parents campaign for organ donors at WSU
Beverly and Tim Butler’s daughter Rebecca was 20 years old when she died of complications related to a rare lung disease. The Wayne State University marketing major was on the organ donor registry waiting for a lung transplant, but it didn’t come in time. Since their daughter’s death three years ago, the Butlers have continued to promote organ donation at Wayne State, working on an annual campaign to sign up students. April is National Donate Life Month and Secretary of State Ruth Johnson has been urging Michigan residents and students on campuses to sign up to become donors. "We made huge strides in expanding the organ donor rolls, with more than 1.4 million people added in the past three years alone," Johnson said last week during an event at Wayne State kicking off the donor drive. Before she died, Rebecca told her parents and her sorority sisters at Wayne State that she wanted to do an organ donation drive in the fall. To honor her memory, they followed through on her plans and got the campus involved in the Gift of Life Campus Challenge. The six-week challenge takes place over the winter and pits 14 colleges against each other in a bid to sign up the most students to the registry. Wayne State has won for most registrations every year since. Between 2012 and 2014, Wayne State Gift of Life has signed up 2,600 students.
