Hockey player’s last wish triggers movement for organ donation in Canada

Team Udayavani, Apr 7, 2019, 4:17 PM IST

Image for Representation

Ottawa: A Canadian hockey player, who died in a bus crash caused by an Indian truck driver, has become an inspiration for a national movement for organ donation in the country.

Deceased hockey player Logan Boulet’s parents have initiated a program “Green Shirt Day” being observed Sunday across the country, to inspire people to donate organs and help the life of others.

Boulet had signed for his organ donation long before he died in an accident last year that killed 16 people after a Saskatchewan hockey team’s bus collided with a truck driven by a non-resident Indian Jaskirat Singh Sidhu of Calgary.

Sidhu was sentenced last month to eight years in prison for dangerous driving causing death and bodily injury.

The player’s parents, Toby and Bernadine Boulet, are spreading the message of how their son’s decision helped the lives of others and how he has inspired hundreds of thousands of Canadians to become organ donors.

They are conducting the first annual “Green Shirt Day in partnership with Canada’s Organ Donation Community.

Support for organ donation in Canada is at roughly 90 per cent, but only 23 per cent of Canadians are registered organ donors.

According to Canadian Transplant Association President Brenda Brown nothing like the Logan Boulet Effect has been seen before in Canadian history and raising more awareness will hopefully raise this percentage.

A memorial service is also being held to mark one year since the tragedy.