Metro Detroit billboard campaign hopes to find father a new kidney

Father uses billboards around Metro Detroit in search for kidney

A Metro Detroit man is being helped by his advertising company in his search for a kidney with the use of eight billboards dotted around the area.

(FOX 2) - Move over social media, an advertising campaign is dusting off the traditional strategy for getting the word out.

It's for a good cause as the company behind the campaign is hoping to help one of their own. 

Big picture view:

Michael Stoller has struggled with kidney problems since he was a child. And while there is still a long way to go before he gets a transplant, a new ad campaign is hoping to get the word out.

Drivers in Metro Detroit will notice the campaign on billboards dotted around the region, including off of I-75 near 14 Mile in Oakland County.

It reads "Help Save Michael's Life" with a blurb from his daughter. It states "My daddy needs a kidney."

The journey of his dire need for a new organ starts with his dad, who works at a local advertising company.

Local perspective:

"I’m at a point where I need to find a kidney," Stoller said.

Weeks earlier, his dad was speaking to a coworker at Lamar Advertising about the struggle his son was going through. The conversation is the hopeful spark Stoller needs to get a new kidney.

 "Bruce is one of my sales reps," said Jennifer Pluer. "He came in a few weeks ago a little upset and I asked ‘what’s going on’ and he shared that his son is struggling."

Pluer is a sales manager at the firm - and was all-in on helping.

"This one is free because it’s our employee, but, in the words of our CEO, ‘we just want to treat others like we would like to be treated’," she said.

Dig deeper:

The billboards can be found around Metro Detroit with eight of them standing, sending out a message that someone can help Stoller.

It's also a message that Stoller's daughter hopes resonates with those driving around Michigan.

"She knows when I'm not feeling well so she’ll come and grab my back give me a hug or a kiss," Stoller said of his daughter. 

There are more than 2,600 people in need of a kidney transplant, according to The Gift of Life Michigan's CEO Dorrie Dils.

"Some will wait three, four, five years to get that deceased donor transplant and I think patients are more educated and informed and aware that they need to be their own advocate," she said.

And while Stoller has used previously used social media in his search for a transplant, he hopes this older more traditional form of advertising gets the word out - if not for him, for someone else. 

"If this brings a little more awareness to lifestyle choices to prevent it, and also the fact that we need more people to consider donor I think that’s a win-win," he said.