KAMLOOPS — Sunday was Green Shirt Day across Canada, a day meant to honour Logan Boulet who was a member of the Humboldt Broncos hockey club, and died in the horrific bus crash in April 2018.
Boulet was an organ donor, and after his passing his organs were donated to six individuals.
This weekend, a number of transplant recipients had a booth at the Kamloops Home Show meant to help bring attention to the importance of organ donation, as well as sign up new recipients. According to recent transplant recipient Kurtus Niessen, the tragedy in Saskatchewan has kept the importance of organ donation in front of mind for many Canadians, which made for a busy weekend.
“It was my first time helping out at something like that. Instead of us having to flag people down, a lot of people seemed drawn to our booth which was exciting,” Niessen explained. “Over the weekend, we had 114 confirmed donors sign up, whether that be online or through the pamphlets we had, and at least another 100 forms taken home, for people to either sign up or to consider.”
After a 13-year wait, Niessen received a life-saving liver transplant last October. He wants to remind everyone of the importance of letting their wishes regarding organ donation be known so that if a tragedy does occur, their loved ones can let health care professionals know.
“If something does happen, your family is quite often the ones that will let the doctors know, will let the hospital know… your wishes,” Niessen said. “If you do sign up, let your wishes be known… that you’re willing to be an organ donor because it might be someone like myself, or someone else you might be giving a second chance at life.”
