91´ó»ÆѼ

Skip to content

Editorial: Hundreds of reasons to say yes to organ donation

481 people got organ transplants last year in B.C.
sub-cohen-hotchen
Community members are rallying together for little Cohen Hotchen who has had a daunting health journey since the day he was born on May 4, 2023. A fundraiser and silent auction will be held at Duncan's Hall on Jan. 11.

Are you an organ donor?

There are hundreds of reasons to say yes.

In B.C., 481 people received organ transplants in 2024, thanks to 118 people who donated after their deaths, and 90 living donors. This includes 309 kidney transplants, 92 liver transplants, 47 lung transplants, 25 heart transplants, and 13 pancreas and islet transplants.

Five were multi-organ transplants.

That's 481 people who got a new lease on life.

In Cowichan, two-year-old Cohen Hotchen is waiting for a three-organ transplant right now.

People don't like to think about the reality that they are, one day, going to die. They really don't like to think about the possibility that they will die at a relatively young age when their bodies are still in pretty good shape.

Many people put off or refuse to write a will for this reason, some even thinking that they are tempting fate if they plan for the inevitable.

Likewise, when people don't want to consider the eventuality of their own death, they shy away from thinking about organ donation.

But we would urge everyone to think about it long enough to sign up to be an organ donor — a few short minutes out of their day. (People should also help those they're leaving behind by making their wishes known in a will, too, but that's a topic for another day.)

You're not going to make something bad happen to you by acknowledging death. It's really just part of life.

And it could mean a new life for someone else. What could be better than knowing that after you die, you can give someone else the ultimate gift?

In fact, we think that B.C. should follow Nova Scotia's lead and change the system to opt out, rather than opt in. In Nova Scotia, you are presumed to be an organ and tissue donor unless you sign a registry saying you're opposed, the opposite of our system where you must sign a registry to say you do want to donate following your death. So Nova Scotia residents literally don't have to do anything at all since they brought in their new legislation in 2021.

But in the current B.C. system you can sign up to be a donor at any time at . You just need your Personal Health Number and two spare minutes.

To further prompt people to sign up, B.C. residents will see a check box on their tax returns this year asking of they'd like to get information about registering as a donor. If you select "yes" you'll get an email later in the year telling you how to register.

Please consider it. As of Dec. 31, 2024, 666 people were still waiting for transplants.





(or

91´ó»ÆѼ

) document.head.appendChild(flippScript); window.flippxp = window.flippxp || {run: []}; window.flippxp.run.push(function() { window.flippxp.registerSlot("#flipp-ux-slot-ssdaw212", "Black Press Media Standard", 1281409, [312035]); }); }