Support Marcellous Demps' Road to Recovery

We are friends and supporters of Marcellous Demps, a Detroiter, father of two, an aspiring nurse, and a former patient care provider at Michigan Medicine. On December 20, 2024, after ten years working for the University of Michigan, Marcellous was on the job and slipped in a puddle that pooled from a leaking wall in a dimly lit hallway without warning or visible hazard.

That day, Marcellous filed an incident report with witness accounts, was sent to the ER, and was diagnosed with a leg injury. Ultrasound and X-rays showed no break, but he remained in extreme pain. He was placed on worker’s compensation, but before the hospital could fit him in for a full evaluation, Work Connections, a unit tasked by the university with validating the medical documentation of employees, canceled his claim and cut off his worker’s compensation without explanation.

In March 2025, a long-delayed MRI showed an MCL sprain, fluid buildup, and a Baker’s Cyst, all resulting from the fall. The university ignored this final medical report. He was expected to return to work, risking further harm to himself and the patients he cared for. When Marcellous told the university he was still unable to walk, they fired him and then told the state that he had “voluntarily quit” to deny him unemployment benefits, treatment, and support.

Without income, Mr. Demps saw his car repossessed. His bank account was closed. His phone was disconnected. He lost his home. Being injured and without a car, he couldn’t drive to Ohio to see his children. After over ten years of service, he was discarded, without accountability or appeal, and denied the benefits he had earned, with devastating effects. You can hear directly from Marcellous here , including his report to the U-M regents at their June 2025 meeting.

Please join us in helping Mr. Demps make a deposit on an apartment and secure a car so that, as his injury heals, he is able to apply for patient care positions in driving distance and get his life back on track.