For the past 3 1/2 years, Andrea Langhor, a mother of five and a grandmother to five, has been keenly aware that it was someone's child who saved her life.

After suffering for many years from a genetic kidney disease, Langhor, a Brighton resident, was told by her doctors in September of 2009 that she would have to start dialysis until she was able to receive a kidney transplant. It was disheartening news for the then 51-year-old grandmother of five who had watched her own father receive dialysis treatments for the same polycystic kidney disease and knew what her future could look like.

"You're just existing," Langhor, now 55, said. "You're really not living on dialysis." Just a week later however, Langhor received "miraculous" news that after only six months on the donor registry, she was a match and would receive her life-changing transplant. She would later learn that the kidney came from a teenager.

"... we were a perfect match," Langhor said. "... (doctors) told me I had won the lottery because that's like one in a million." Today there are more than 2,500 people in Michigan awaiting a kidney, an organ transplant that will prolong their lives, according to Dr. Shakir Hussein, of Dearborn.

The transplant surgeon at Detroit Medical Center's Harper University Hospital said there are not enough living or deceased donors and that is why it's crucial to spread the word about the need and not just during April, which is designated as organ donation awareness month.

The good news, Hussein said, is that new technology no longer requires people to be a perfect match. He said a "paired kidney exchange" allows for a bigger pool of candidates who don't have to be a blood or antibody match.

"Although (donation) is psychologically and physically difficult, it really is a precious gift, Hussein said. "It saves lives." Langhor's life was saved by a 17-year-old girl from New Jersey who died from a brain aneurysm. Her parents made the decision to donate her organs.