LAKELAND – Don’t put your St. Patrick’s Day attire away just yet, everyone – the fourth annual Green Shirt Day is coming up Friday, April 7, a day when wearing green is a tribute to a Canadian hero whose untimely passing sparked an outpouring of support for fellow human beings like none other.
On April 7, 2018, one day after a horrific crash in northern Saskatchewan devastated the Humboldt Broncos hockey team, defenseman Logan Boulet succumbed to his injuries and became a national hero, because he had recently registered as an organ donor and had told his family had done so.
Grieving parents Bernadine and Tony Boulet followed his wishes, and donated his organs so that six other lives could be saved.
Logan had been inspired to register as a donor because his former coach and mentor Ric Suggett had done so, and when Suggett passed away less than a year earlier, his organs also saved six lives.
News of the donation of Logan’s organs, which came to be called “the Logan Boulet Effect” resulted in an impressive wave of support across Canada, with 150,000 people registering as donors in the six weeks that followed, and the first ever Green Shirt Day in 2019 inspiring another 100,000 or more to sign up the following year.
The importance of organ donation is already well ingrained in the Lakeland, where one of the 2nd Chance Trail Ride’s founders, Morris Irvine, recently marked 12 years from the day he received a double lung transport and a new lease on life.
With this year’s annual trail ride coming up on May 13, the 2nd Chance organizers urge supporters to wear green on Friday and to “Let us continue to inspire one another, because when we register as donors and tell our family and friends, we are Together Strong.”
Quick facts:
- 90 per cent of Canadians say they support organ and tissue donation, but only about 32 per cent have actually completed their registration
- More than 4,000 people in Canada are waiting for an organ transplant.
- One organ donor can save up to eight lives.
- A tissue donor can improve the lives of up to 75 patients.
