By Jeff Henson

GREEN SHIRT DAY

Green Shirt day aimed at increasing awareness of the importance of organ donation.

Apr 7, 2022 | 8:55 AM

A Grande Prairie family is reminding us of the importance of not only being an organ donor but the importance of having a conversation with your loved ones to inform them of your wishes.

April 7th is Green Shirt day, which was first celebrated in 2019 – one year after Logan Boulet donated his organs to save six lives after he lost his life in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash.

That decision sparked a wave of Canadians signing organ donor cards in the following days, a number that reached nearly 150,000.

Just weeks after being born in 2009, Grande Prairie’s Adelaide Radbourne had to be placed on a Berlin heart after experiencing several health concerns.

She remained on that artificial heart for six months, after which she received a heart transplant.

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Now, according to her dad Dean, she is thriving.

“It is one of those things that she lives with. She has medicine that she has to take every day – anti-rejection medicine. She also has to watch her salt and probably eats the way I should eat. So we are all learning to have a better diet because of her.”

“She is playing spring basketball and doing pretty good right now.”

Dean adds as heartbreaking as the Broncos’ bus crash was, it was touching to see something positive come from such a tragic event.

“You started to feel real pride in a community that surrounded (Logan) in that moment, to try and make something meaningful come out of such a horrible experience.”

“And then that community grew – from Humboldt to the West and then the entire country – to a real movement now.”

Besides wearing green today in support of organ donation, Radbourne says it is just as important to not only sign an organ donor card but to talk to your family about it.

“Whenever we are advocating for national organ and tissue donation awareness month, or green shirt day, or anything, we are really talking about having that conversation at the dinner table with your family. Letting them know your wishes, so that if they have to make that call, it is all very clear to them ”

According to the Canadian Transplant Association, more than 4,400 Canadians are waiting for an organ transplant.

It adds that 250 of those people will die this year while waiting.

The national goal for Green Shirt Day in 2022 is to have 100,000 people agree to become organ donors.