NEWS RELEASE
ORGAN DONATION HEROES
MONTREAL, QC - (August 11, 2012) - Quinn Thomas arrives in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario on August 11 to meet concerned citizens, organ transplant recipients and health professionals to talk about Canada’s critical health care situation with regard to organ and tissue donations and to help people do what it takes to be an organ donor in Ontario.
Come meet him and special guests Saturday Aug 11 3 p.m. at City Hall.
Five weeks ago, on his 21st birthday, Quinn Thomas (a second year medical student from Montreal, Quebec) began a four-month solo journey of 8,730 kilometres bicycling across Canada from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland to raise awareness for organ and tissue donation.
As he cycles across Canada, Thomas will share the critical need for organ donors, encourage people talk to their families so their wishes are known and to sign their donor cards or register as donors as he stops at events staged to meet with people, transplant-related organizations and transplant recipients.
Quinn Thomas (581) 997-1097
Thomas invites recipients to cycle with him as he leaves each town, helping people to visualize the life-saving impact that organ donation makes on their neighbors and community.
“By such a simple act as registering as a donor and telling the family, each person can become a real-life hero!” he says.
Ontarians are encouraged to register their intent to donate their organs and tissues on https://BeADonor.ca or https://SoyezUnDonneur.ca - the province’s online registry.
“With all the talk and media attention about Organ and Tissue Donor Registration with Helene Campbell and the Ontario Students Torch of Life Relay - we now have another young person, Quinn Thomas, who is on a solo bicycle trek across Canada promoting the movement and bringing the message, for the sake of all those who endure the wait on our transplant list,” says Richard St. Amour from Ontario’s BeADonor initiative.
Today, thousands of people are waiting for organs to receive a transplant.
In 2010, there were 2,233 people waiting and the numbers have risen.
In fact, during one’s lifetime, a person is seven times more likely to need a transplant compared to becoming an organ donor.
Thomas says, “I was shocked to realize that it would probably take me less time to bike across Canada than it would for a patient to receive a kidney transplant, which, in the best-case scenario, can take around 135 days for a living kidney donation or a national average wait of 1,258 days for a deceased kidney donor. Some Canadians have managed to survive 2,145 days until a match was found for them.”
Thomas was not motivated because of a family member. Rather, as a medical student, he realized, “Seeing these statistics, I have to do something - as a citizen and as a future doctor.”
While 85 percent of Canadians think that organ donation is a good thing, only 14 percent have actually signed their donor cards.
This is why there are hundreds of Canadians who are dying while waiting for a transplant organ to become available. In 2010, in Ontario alone, 103 patients died waiting.
Thomas thinks people are unaware of the disconnect between their good will and the need to act on it to help solve this critical problem.
He recently left the Canadian Transplant Games in Calgary where he spoke at the Gala dinner on July 18.
He has cycled over 3,000 kilometres in the last five weeks.
To follow his progress, read Quinn Thomas’ blog and find his travel dates updated on his web page: www.organdonationheroes.
About Organ Donation Heroes:
My name is Quinn Thomas.
I will be cycling coast-to-coast from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland to raise awareness about organ and tissue donation.
Canadians have an international reputation for their good will, yet hundreds of Canadians die each year because they did not receive an organ transplant they needed to survive.
Thousands of others are waiting for transplants.
I decided to cross Canada in my own solo endeavor to inspire others to help solve this bigger challenge.
As I planned my trip, I was shocked to realize that it would probably take me less time to bike 8,730 kilometres across Canada than it would for a patient to receive a kidney transplant, even in a best-case time frame.
Are Canadians in favour of organ donation?
Yes, 85 percent state they are.
But the problem is that only 14 percent have done what it takes to participate in an organ donation program.
Each person who decides to be an organ donor will potentially save not just one, but possibly many lives.
That is why I say that each person can be a hero! An organ donation hero!
Hopefully, I will be passing through your hometown.
Join me!
Come and meet me and cycle with me! Register as an organ donor and discuss the issue with your close ones.
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