Ad campaign hails real-life heroes

Matthew Jackson, 4, is standing in a bathtub wearing green goggles, his hair in a soapy spike, and a vertical heart surgery scar on his chest.

Matthew Jackson, 4, and mother, Cathy, pose with a photo that is featured in the advertising campaign. (Photo by Martin Vloet, U-M Photo Services)

The smiling pre-schooler is among several U-M Health System (UMHS) patients featured in a new TV advertisement promoting UMHS and supporting the University-wide $2.5-billion The Michigan Difference campaign.

More than 300 University and UMHS staff got a first look Aug. 29 at Matthew and the moving 60-second TV commercial, which kicks off a three-year marketing campaign. Print, radio and television ads will seek to raise awareness of the high level of research, patient care and education that occur throughout the Health System.

UMHS has set a goal to raise $550 million through its philanthropic efforts to fund new facilities, research, scholarships and more. The rollout of the campaign will begin in southeastern Michigan, followed by western Michigan.

The commercial was scheduled to debut Sept. 3 on WXYZ-TV Channel 7 during the U-M-Northern Illinois football game. It also is scheduled to air on Sunday morning news shows, the "Desperate Housewives" season premiere Sept. 25, and on several other network programs.

During the commercial, lines from the Michigan fight song, "The Victors," including the signature "Hail to the victors," and "Hail to the conquering heroes," are superimposed in white lettering over footage of Matthew and other survivors.

"What is so unique and wonderful about The Michigan Difference campaign is that it tells the real stories of patients and families and faculty and staff," Dr. Robert Kelch, executive vice president for medical affairs and CEO of UMHS, said during the campaign kickoff. "Stories of courage and dedication; of will and spirit; of realities and miracles. Everything that victors—that real, everyday heroes—are made of."

U-M Health System staff gathered Aug. 29 for the unveiling of a dramatic TV ad which kicks off a marketing effort to support The Michigan Difference fundraising campaign. (Photo by Martin Vloet, U-M Photo Services)

The day after Matthew was born, he was flown to U-M on a Survival Flight helicopter. Children's heart doctors of the Michigan Congenital Heart Center diagnosed a severe case of a condition called aortic stenosis. The opening between Matthew's heart and his largest blood vessel was too small to allow enough blood to reach his body.

U-M physicians, led by Dr. Thomas Lloyd of Pediatric Cardiology and Dr. Edward Bove of Cardiac Surgery, corrected the condition in separate procedures. Matthew had another open-heart operation last summer.

"Whenever people ask, 'Where did you take your son' and I say, 'U of M,' they say, 'You couldn't ask for a better place,'" reported Matthew's mom Cathy Jackson, on hand near the main entrance of the U-M Hospital for the unveiling of the commercial. After watching, she added, "They make you feel like you're a part of the family."

Also on hand with friends to view the commercial was former UMHS patient Charity Riddle, shown at the bathroom mirror in her Monroe, Mich., apartment, using her prosthetic arm to hold a makeup brush.

In 2001 at age 25, Riddle, an aerobics instructor, faced an obstacle greater than most could imagine—the amputation of both arms below the elbow and both legs below the knee following a near-fatal bout with meningitis and septicemia—a poisoning of the blood due to endotoxins released by the bacteria. She also required a kidney transplant in 2002.

Today Riddle is doing many of the things she did before her illness. With the help of UMHS Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation therapists, she has learned to do things like vacuum, wash dishes, drive a car and put on makeup.

Riddle said the photo shoot took about three hours. "It was a lot of fun. I just felt very comfortable doing it," she said.

As for her experience with U-M doctors and staff, Riddle said, "I went to physical therapy and I learned to walk again. I learned to use prosthetic hands, I had my kidney transplant and dialysis—they helped me to live again."

Several of the 24 participants in the campaign were on hand to receive gift bags, which included wood-framed reproductions of their photos used in the campaign.

Faculty members featured in the campaign include Dr. Mark Orringer, professor and head of the Section of Thoracic Surgery in the Department of Surgery, and an innovator in surgical treatments of diseases of the esophagus that are much less invasive than earlier options; and Dr. Robert Bartlett, recently retired professor of surgery, director of critical care and head of the extracorporeal life support team, who developed a machine that is saving the lives of newborns and adults with severe respiratory failure.

Also participating in the campaign is former astronaut Jack Lousma, 69, who had successful treatment for prostate cancer at the Comprehensive Cancer Center and Department of Urology.