The month of April is National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week (NOTDAW). According to the Canadian Blood Services website, approximately 4,400 Canadians are waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant. Many more are waiting for tissue transplants. Sadly, approximately 250 Canadians die each year waiting for a transplant.
90 percent of Canadians approve of organ and tissue donation according to public opinion data, but only 32 percent put their names on an organ donation registry.
In joining forces with governments, health-care providers, and Canadian Blood services, and by continuing to support and collaborate across the country, progress continues to be made and there is hope that there will be a day when no one waiting for a transplant will have to die.
By raising awareness to encourage Canadians to register to be a donor and talk to their loved ones about organ donation, and with continued support and collaboration across the country, a transplantation and world-class organ donation system in Canada is possible.
Organ Donation continues to take on a whole new meaning for me and my family. In 2020 my nephew died accidentally of a brain injury and his parents did not hesitate when asked if they would consider him to be an organ donor in hopes of saving others’ lives.
He became a hero on the eve of his 23rd birthday and a total of 7 individuals received major organs successfully transplanted including his tissue and corneas. Tissue donations from one individual alone can help up to 75 lives.
Four years later, our family continues to realize how important organ donation is as we await a family member desperately in need of a liver.
At 6 weeks old, baby Emma was diagnosed with biliary atresia. Initially there was hope that she could be a recipient for a living organ donor, but a CT scan revealed that her portal vein (main passageway for blood from organs to enter your liver) is too small so the only other option is a deceased pediatric donor. Sadly this news came on the day that a liver donor match was found! She has been in hospital for over a month and as her disease has progressed, she is now at the top of the National deceased pediatric donor list.
Our family has been on both sides of organ transplant and we realize that in the most tragic of events and situations, there is always hope for others. We are now holding out hope that an organ will be found sooner than later and we ask to please sign your donor cards.
https://organdonor.saskatchewan.ca/apex/f?p=400:CMS:4122045449770::::CMS_SITE%2CCMS_PAGE:DONOR_AUTH%2CREGISTER
or: 1-888-2 DONATE(1-888-236-6283)
