The next time his family saw him, he was in the critical care unit at Sunnybrook.

“They told us that Jonathon had suffered a traumatic brain injury from a car accident. The injury was severe, and it was unlikely that he would recover,” says his mother, Heather.

That’s when an organ and tissue donation coordinator from the Trillium Gift of Life Network approached the Talbot family, asking if Jonathon had signed his donor card. His sister Emily said that he had, and that they had discussed the possibility of organ donation together.

“My first instinct was to say no,” says Heather. “My children and I are Jewish, and I wasn’t sure it would be possible to do this in a way that honoured our faith.”

However, after consulting with a rabbi and learning that organ donation was allowed because it would save someone else’s life, Heather felt confident that donating Jonathon’s organs and tissues was the right decision.

“It was my way to honour Jonathon’s memory. His organs helped four other people live,” says Heather.

In the decade since Jonathon’s passing, Heather and her husband Terry have become active in the organ donation community, participating in causes like the Canadian Transplant Games and hosting an annual table tennis fundraising tournament.

Heather has also spoken at synagogues and the National Council of Jewish Women, spreading the word that organ donation is an option for members of her faith. Now volunteering as a patient partner at Sunnybrook, her latest project is creating a memorial garden at the hospital dedicated to organ donors, which is set to come to reality this spring.

“If we hadn’t consented to donating, we would have missed this gift Jonathon gave us – a life enriched with purpose. Being a part of the organ donation community has also helped with grief,” says Heather.

Heather says she also took comfort in receiving cards and letters from some of the people who received Jonathon’s organs.

“One gentleman wrote that because of the organ he received, he lived to meet first grandchild. It means Jonathon didn’t die in vain.”

April is BeADonor Month. To register as an organ and tissue donor, visit https://beadonor.ca/sunnybrook.

The post ‘His organs helped four other people live’: Mom discusses her choice to donate son Jonathon’s organs appeared first on Your Health Matters.

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April is Be A Donor Month. To raise awareness about the importance of organ donation, we chatted with Emily Evans, Organ and Tissue Donation Coordinator at Sunnybrook. Here are four things you should know about organ donation:

1. There is a time frame for donation

Once a patient’s breathing tube is removed, the medical team must wait for their heart to stop.

“The guidelines vary from person to person, but if the heart doesn’t stop within a pre-determined amount of time, the team won’t be able to use certain organs,” says Evans.

For the liver, there is a 30-minute window; this extends to two hours for kidneys and two or three hours for lungs.

Organ donors and recipients are matched based on a variety of factors, including blood type, size and weight. Potential recipients can be from anywhere in Canada, and need to be brought into the hospital for testing before a transplant can proceed.

“We aim to finish the testing and move ahead with the transplant within 24-36 hours,” says Evans.

2. Directed donation is possible

Evans says that people sometimes ask whether they can donate their loved one’s organs to a specific person – perhaps they know of another family member or someone in their community who is waiting for a transplant.

“Directed donation is possible. However, the transplant recipient can’t be fast-tracked – they have to already be on the transplant list,” says Evans.

3. Age isn’t a factor

You’re never too old to donate – the oldest donor, at 92-years-old, donated a liver.

“Babies over 36 weeks gestation are also eligible to be donors,” says Evans.

4. Speak to your family about your wishes

Even if you’ve signed your donor card, your family can override that decision.

“Make sure you talk about your wishes with your family, and designate substitute decision maker (SDM) who is aware that you want to be an organ donor,” says Evans.

While 80% of all Ontarians are in favour of donation, less than 25% of people actually sign their registered consent. Be sure to fill out your donor card correctly so that your wishes are known.

“A potential donor may have checked off a box on their donor card, indicating they wanted to only donate their eyes, when in fact they made a mistake and actually wanted to donate everything except their eyes,” says Evans.

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Are you a registered organ and tissue donor? Maybe you vaguely remember filling out a paper card years ago (those are now obsolete!), or perhaps you registered online. Or at least, you meant to. Are you sure you actually followed through and registered? If you didn’t, you aren’t alone: 1.8 million Ontarians mistakenly believe they’ve registered their consent to organ and tissue donation, when in fact, their wishes haven’t been officially recorded.

April is BeADonor Month. This year, Trillium Gift of Life Network is encouraging all Ontarians to check their donor registration status. Doing something so simple can mean the difference between life and death – every three days, someone in Ontario dies waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant.

According to Trillium Gift of Life Network, while most Ontarians suggest they support organ and tissue donation, only 31% have actually registered consent. Research has found that as many as 15% of people mistakenly believe they are registered when, in fact, they are not.

Checking your registration status is easy. Look on the back of your photo health card for the word “donor”, or check online (or on your phone) at beadonor.ca/sunnybrook. Click the red button at the bottom of the page to check your registration status.

If you realize you haven’t registered your consent, or decide for the first time that you would like to register as an organ and tissue donor, you can do so at beadonor.ca/sunnybrook. If you’re still deciding about whether to register, there’s also a link at the bottom of the page that provides more information about organ and tissue donation.

This April, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is holding a donor registration drive. Our goal is to register 500 new donors, bringing our total number of registered donors to 1750! Help us reach our goal, and visit beadonor.ca/sunnybrook to check your status and register your consent. Remember, a single organ donor can save up to eight lives and enhance another 75 through tissue donation.

The post Organ donation: How to check if you’re registered appeared first on Your Health Matters.