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Detroit, MI

Kidney recipient pays her ‘Wish’ forward in Metro Detroit

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Kidney recipient pays her ‘Wish’ forward in Metro Detroit


Wednesday, one young woman’s wish to change the lives of children like her came true.

Tiffani Hunt was 17 years old when she was diagnosed with kidney failure. She would spend 12 hours a week on dialysis at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit.

Just as Make-A-Wish Michigan was going to grant her wish to go on a cruise to Aruba, the pandemic hit.

The pandemic not only put her wish on hold but also made hours on dialysis difficult with no volunteers, activities, or special visitors like service animals. Hunt did make friends, but one of them passed away.

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Tiffani Hunt was just 17 years old when she was diagnosed with kidney failure (WDIV)

In her friend’s honor, she made a new wish that included paying it forward. She asked Make-A-Wish for Nintendo Switches for the patients to have.

“I don’t want anyone to be bored,” said Hunt, who is now 22 and received a kidney transplant. “It’s a boring thing to go through, especially at a young age. I know I was only 17 doing it, so if I was bored at 17, I can just imagine a 12-year-old or a 7-year-old doing the same thing.”

Chief Diversity and Engagement Officer for Make-A-Wish Michigan Sherri Collins said it took some time to brainstorm, but eventually, they landed on something Hunt wished she had.

“There are at least five Nintendo Switches that will be here for when children come for their treatments,” said Collins. “It’s loaded with all the games from ages two and up, so any child, whatever their age is, will find something on there they’ll enjoy.”

At first glance, the wish is just video games, but it goes a long way for young patients like Terrien Leake. He’s been on dialysis since 2015.

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“It inspires me to want to keep striving in order to give back to people just like me, and I hope someday I can accomplish it,” said Leake.

Meghan Zechmeister is a social worker at the hospital and explained how mentally and physically draining dialysis is for children.

“They miss a lot of after-school activities because they have to come here, they’re missing out on classes, and so playing a game while they’re here lets them be a kid again, and they don’t have to worry about anything else,” said Zechmeister. “They can play against each other; they can play tournaments.”

“This is something they’ll take with them forever, not just today,” Collins said. “Just knowing that someone cared enough about them that they provided this for them.”

Make-A-Wish Michigan is granting more wishes than ever before. Click here to donate.

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Detroit, MI

Detroit sets new bar with “over 775,000” at the draft

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Detroit sets new bar with “over 775,000” at the draft


In the end, Detroit saw Nashville’s 600,000 and raised it. By a lot.

Per the NFL, “over 775,000” attended the three-day draft. That surpasses the prior record, from 2019, by nearly 30 percent.

Next year, Green Bay gets its turn. The fact that a division rival drew so many people will surely be regarded as a challenge by Green Bay and all of Wisconsin to match or exceed it.

It feels like, somewhere, the draft will hit one million for the three days, sooner than later. It’s come a very long way from Radio City Music Hall, where the first night was magical and the second night was OK and the third day featured tons of empty seats. (I was present for each of the last five drafts held there.)

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The league left in 2015 because of a scheduling conflict. The draft went to Chicago for two years and then to Philly and it will never look back.

The next time it’s in New York, it won’t be in Radio City Music Hall. And it will feature a lot more people. Hell, it might be held in Times Square, turning New Year’s Eve into a three-day affair.

Regardless, look for the draft to keep on moving. And look for it to keep on getting bigger and bigger.





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Detroit, MI

KEY QUESTIONS: How does Holmes feel about Lions' depth at CB following NFL Draft?

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KEY QUESTIONS: How does Holmes feel about Lions' depth at CB following NFL Draft?


GM Brad Holmes put a bow on the 2024 NFL Draft after the Lions made four selections on Saturday to give them a three-day haul of six picks total. The work for Holmes and the Lions certainly isn’t over as they hit the phones after the draft to try and sign undrafted players to the roster.

Holmes addressed the media Saturday and started by acknowledging the amazing job the city did hosting the draft and the record-breaking attendance it saw.

He then addressed all the key questions from the media, as follows:

How did the Lions come across Giovanni Manu out of the University of British Columbia and what do they like about his potential?

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Holmes traded a third-round pick next season to get Manu. He credited Senior Personnel Director John Dorsey with getting the train rolling on that evaluation.

“He kind of got wind of – he had a really good workout and he kind of got on the workout circuit, and really starting back with (Lions Scout, Auxiliary) Ademi Smith who scouted him and then Dorsey finds out about the workout, and Dorsey and (Lions Assistant General Manager) Ray (Agnew) talk and Ray comes to me and he’s telling me like, ‘Man, I think you’ve probably got to take a look at Giovanni here,’” Holmes said.

Holmes watched the tape and loved the physical traits at 6-foot-7, 351 pounds but with athletic traits that would have put him in the 90 percentile among tackles at the Combine.

“We just kind of got enamored with the upside and then when we reached out to his agent and tried to get him in for a visit because he wasn’t at the Combine, we could hardly get on the dance card,” he said.

“The whole dance card was filled up. So, he came in on a Sunday, like a Sunday afternoon and that was like visit number nine. He came in and he did a great job and sat with the coaches, and we felt really good about him. We talked about Brodric Martin last year. This is more of a down-the-road future deal, but the upside is enormous.”

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Detroit, MI

700,000 and counting: Detroit sets 3-day NFL Draft attendance record

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700,000 and counting: Detroit sets 3-day NFL Draft attendance record


Detroit, you did it.

On Day 3 of the NFL Draft on Saturday, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced on the draft stage that the 2024 NFL Draft had officially set the three-day attendance record for the event. Seven hundred thousand people and counting made their way down to the Motor City to take part in the week’s festivities, breaking the record of 600,000 set by the city of Nashville in 2019.

Detroit smashed the single-day record on night one (Thursday) when 275,000 people packed into Campus Martius for the opening round and continued its exuberance into Friday night, where the total eclipsed 500,000. The draft was at-capacity each of the first two nights and was forced to turn people away.

“It has been a historic week here in the great city of Detroit,” Whitmer said. “We have shown the world what the Motor City is all about.”

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In 2022, when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell visited the city after Detroit was awarded the draft, he challenged Detroit to break the record.

“You have your challenge, Detroit,” Goodell said.

It appears Detroiters took that personally.

nbianchi@detroitnews.com

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@nolanbianchi



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