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Today, April 7, is Green Shirt Day, an organ-donation initiative named in honour of Logan Boulet. When the defenceman for the Humboldt Broncos hockey team succumbed to his injuries after a horrific bus crash four years ago, his parents agreed to donate his organs.
Their generosity of spirit in the time of unimaginable grief inspired a Canada-wide reaction now called the Logan Boulet Effect. About 150,000 people registered to become organ donors in the weeks following his death.
Through Green Shirt Day, hIs parents, Tony and Bernadine Boulet, continue to be tireless advocates for organ donation; my colleague Dan Lett wrote about their dedication last month.
Toby and Bernadine Boulet agreed to donate thier son Logan’s organs. (Jamin Heller / Free Press files)
It’s a sad fact that although a majority of Canadians say they are in favour of organ donation, only a fraction actually sign up to the official registry (it takes about two minutes to do so with your medical card at signupforlife.ca). Last year more than 200 people died waiting for organs; Manitoba has the unhappy distinction of having one of the country’s highest number of patients with kidney failure.
I’ll admit to being a bit of a bore when it comes to the topic of organ donation. I did a lot of research before I donated a kidney almost three years ago (you can read about it here) and I love to talk about it, because I think it’s a goddamn medical miracle that more people should participate in, whether they do so when they’re still living or after they’ve died.
Think about this: a doctor detached my left kidney, pulled it out of a small incision in my abdomen and put it into a stranger, where it immediately started making urine. That person no longer required dialysis and I was drinking beer on a patio six days later. Science is amazing.
Three years later, I have no ill effects and the scars (it’s a laparoscopic procedure) are all but invisible. It’s the best thing I will ever do with my life — and if they’re not too withered and worn-out by the time I die, you’re welcome to the rest of my parts too. (I also think we should have an opt-out system for organ donation — I wrote an editorial about it back in 2019 — but that’s a lecture for another time).
I promise I’ll be back to writing about arts and entertainment next week, but in the meantime, if you have any questions about the organ donation process, feel free to ask me at jill.wilson@winnipegfreepress.com. And sign up today!
Jill Wilson
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