Organ Donor Awareness

The Kin Organ Donor Awareness Campaign (Kin-ODAC) was adopted in 2001 as Kin’s first National Public Awareness Project. Andrew Hatfield, a St. John's East Kin Kid, was born with a complex congenital heart disease. Andrew died waiting for a heart transplant; however, his dream of Kin helping other transplant hopefuls became Kin-ODAC. Kin-ODAC is a natural extension of our partnership with Cystic Fibrosis Canada because most people with cystic fibrosis
eventually need a lung transplant to live.

Did you know?

Organ donation from one person can save the lives of up to eight people.
A single tissue donor can improve the lives of up to 40 people.

Organ donation can mean the difference between life and death for many people. For others, such as people with renal (kidney) disease, it represents a total transformation in their quality of life because they will no longer need four-hour dialysis treatments three days a week.

Canada’s National Organ Donor Awareness Week is the last full week in April. For Kin members, it’s a time to increase our awareness about organ donation issues and extend that education throughout the communities we call home.

Talk to your family!

Too few Canadians talk about their decision to donate their organs and/or tissues with their families. Even if you have documented your wishes - by filling out your province’s organ donor card or registering through a provincial registry - it is vital that your family knows about your decision. In most provinces, hospital staff will still talk with the next-of-kin of potential donors about what their loved one requested.

Facts

• Canada has some of the most highly-skilled surgeons and prestigious transplant hospitals
• Nearly 98% of all kidney transplants, 90% of liver transplants and 85% of heart transplants are successful
• 2,169 life-saving organ transplants were performed in Canadian hospitals in 2011
• Unfortunately, 303 people died while waiting for a transplant.
• Donor families say they are comforted by the feeling that their loved one's death was not in vain

Only 15 out of every 1,000,000 Canadians are organ donors. Canada's organ donation rate ranks in the bottom half of countries in the western world where transplants are performed.

Resources

Canadian Association of Transplantation

Canadian Transplant Association

Cystic Fibrosis Canada

Canadian Liver Foundation

University of Ottawa Heart Institute