Bob Johnston has never met the man who donated the kidney he received two years ago, but he calls him his best friend anyway.
After a year and a half on the waiting list, Johnston received a kidney transplant in 2015, meaning he is now able to watch his son grow up — something he wasn't sure he'd be able to do before the transplant.
“The man who donated his kidney, he's with me every minute of every day,” Johnston said.
It's for people like that man that he goes to great lengths to make sure organ donors get the recognition they deserve.
“I've been so lucky, that I couldn't just take this gift and walk away with it,” he said. “I need to push for others. I'm living proof that the faster you can get a transplant after being put on the waiting list, the healthier you'll be.”
Johnston co-founded Cruisin' for Organ Donors with city councillor Gerry Montpellier, also an organ donor recipient.
On Aug. 18, they unveiled Memory Park at the corner of Lorne and Oak streets. A ribbon-cutting ceremony preceded a flag-raising ceremony.
“This is a celebration in memory of organ donors,” he said. “I've been waiting for this day, to recognize organ donors, who they are and what they do.”
A stone monument has been put in place to permanently honour organ donors, including Rich Griffin, who died suddenly on May 23, 2015.
Griffin was an organ donor, and his heart, lungs, kidneys and liver saved the lives of five people — something that still amazes his wife, Nancy, and his daughter, Zoe, every day.
“This really means a lot to us as an organ donor family,” she said.
More than two years after Rich died, it's still a healing process, she said. In his memory, she launched the #1Saves8 campaign, in an effort to increase the number of registered organ donors and to raise funds to support the financial needs of Northern Ontario transplant patients and their families.
“Rich being an organ donor has been a huge part of our healing process,” Nancy said. “We were able to somehow take meaning out of his death. “Signing up is not an easy choice, but it needs to be done.”
A flag bearing the beadonor.ca website now flies at the newly established park. Benches will soon be put in so the community can have a place to set and reflect on the importance being an organ donor, Johnston said.
In Greater Sudbury, 52 per cent of the population is registered as an organ donor, making the city fifth out of 175 communities in Ontario. There are currently 1,600 patients currently waiting for an organ donation.
“Whether you save one life or five lives like Rich did, it doesn't matter,” Johnston said. “Sign up and be an organ donor. Be proud of it, and be that hero we all know you can be. It costs nothing, and it can save lives.”
