Operation Popcorn (image credit - CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

OPERATION POPCORN

Transplant recipients return to Royal Inland with treats for Operation Popcorn

Dec 1, 2025 | 4:45 PM

KAMLOOPS — It’s the 34th year for Operation Popcorn, where BC Transplant recipients go to hospitals throughout the province to say thank-you and drop off holiday treats.

This year, BC Transplant will deliver more than 5,000 packages of popcorn to intensive care units (ICU), emergency departments, operating rooms, transplant units, transplant clinics and transplant pharmacies across the province, including Royal Inland Hospital (RIH) in Kamloops.

Six red boxes, adorned with ribbons and bows and filled with popcorn, chocolates and other treats were delivered through RIH Monday (Dec. 1) morning by two transplant recipients.

Tony Maidment is eight years post-liver transplant and has never forgotten those who supported him during his time at RIH.

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“The reason to keep coming back is to thank these people personally, eye-to-eye, giving them a very small token of our appreciation for everything they’ve done for us, to get us to this point in our lives,” said Maidment.

But it’s not just for the recipients. Operation Popcorn also provides a chance for the healthcare workers to see their patients thriving, post-operation.

“It’s nice to see there is a silver lining and there are lives saved that comes from this,” said Jared MacGowan, clinical operation manager for the ICU at RIH. “I think this gives us, as a staff, a little more sense of hope and purpose to what we do and it really solidifies that what we do here has a purpose and meaning with BC Transplant.”

Abby Farnsworth was just four years old when she received a heart transplant. Now 19 years post-transplant, she comes back to RIH each year to say thank-you to those who helped save her life.

“I don’t really realize how much of any impact that Tony and I make for them. And it’s nice to see that they recognize us and are happy that we come back with the treats,” said Farnsworth.

Becoming a donor is easy, with interested individuals able to sign up online.

“Here at Royal Inland they call this surgery a gift surgery, and it really is a gift,” said RIH BC Transplant Coordinator Leah Chesney. “The gift is saying ‘yes’ to donation, and whether or not you can be an organ donor, the gift is just in saying ‘yes’ and giving those people who are on the waitlist hope there is going to be a organ for them in the future.”