Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Members of Transplant Advocate Association (TAA), decked out in green, gathered at Napanee’s municipal building at 99 Advance Ave. on Friday for a flag raising.
They were joined by members of Greater Napanee council to officially recognize April 7 as Green Shirt Day as well as the entire month as Be A Donor Month. The flag-which is also green-encourages people to give the gift of life through organ and tissue donation.
Green Shirt Day recognizes Logan Boulet, a member of the Humboldt Broncos hockey team (whose sweaters are green) that perished in a bus crash on April 6, 2018. Tragic as Boulet’s death was, as a registered organ donor, he was able to save six lives of people who were on a transplant list the day after his passing.
“I think this is really important to our community and not just in this community but to the communities around us,” said Greater Napanee mayor Terry Richardson, who shared his father was involved in a bus crash during his hockey playing days in the 1950s. Fortunately in that case there were no fatalities.
As the flag was being raised, Richardson read a proclamation to officially recognize Be A Donor Month and Green Shirt Day.
“Our mission at TAA is to provide support, knowledge and encouragement touched by organ and tissue transplantation and to inform the public about the needs and benefit of organ and tissue donation,” said Mark Londry, president of TAA and like many of the people in attendance, was an organ transplant recipient, in his case a liver.
Part of their mission is to encourage people to register to be a donor and make their wishes known to their family.
“I know from my experience the difference that you can make is measurable. Mine, plus most of the folks here frankly,” added Londry.
As part of this year’s campaign, TAA is encourage people to sign a petition to make Ontario a province that relies on ‘implied’ consent when it comes to organ donation. If adopted, organ donation would be the reverse of what it is right now. Instead of opting in to let doctors know of the desire to donate organs after death, people would have to opt out if they didn’t want to be a donor. If a person didn’t opt out, it would be assumed that they consent to donating.
The petition was launched by Bobbi Jo Craig, whose husband Chris passed away early in 2023 while awaiting a liver transplant. Chris was diagnosed with liver disease as a teen but was well into adulthood when the symptoms worsened. In 2022 he was advised he would need a liver transplant but despite a lengthy search for a live donor, one was never found. By the time a deceased donor’s liver became available, Chris had developed other health issues stemming from his liver disease, and was too sick to receive it, which resulted in his unfortunate passing at the age of 46.
In Ontario in 2023, there were 1,200 organ transplants, and 1,800 plus tissue transplants. Every three days in Ontario, someone like Chris, dies waiting for an organ or tissue donation. According to TAA, while over 90 per cent of Ontarians are in favour of organ donation, only 35 per cent of Ontarians have actually registered as organ donors.
It is the hoped that with enough signatures, the opt out system will become a reality, and shorten the agonizingly long wait for organ and tissue donations in Ontario. In the meantime, and in keeping with a popular saying in the transplant community ‘Please don’t take your organs to heaven, heaven knows we need them here. To register consent visit www.beadonor.ca/taa_canada and be sure to advise family members of intent to donate, so they will be aware of those wishes when the time comes.