Good Afternoon
I want to thank MPP Rob Milligan, for sponsoring the room for me. I am going on record once again to
support his Organ Bill, and I encourage everyone to support this.
But Mr Milligan knows, that my position is also to create a comprehensive Bill, A Bill that would once & for
all, address our well known organ shortage, in the most speediest & effective way possible. My position is
to invite members from all 3 parties to join me in creating this Bill.
I am naming this project, the Lifesavers Act and everything will be on the table but it will also consist of 4
provisions;
1. The Livesaver Donor Program
2. The Torch of Life Alert
3. The Ontario Challenge
4. The Spanish Model
I am going to go into detail for each of these provisions and make the case for each one, but first I want to
qualify myself
It was in 1992, that I found out that I needed a liver transplant to save my life, and thus found my way into
the world of organ transplantation.
During this time as I grew weaker & weaker each day gave me an opportunity to research & study this new
world and as a result I discovered two startling facts
1. When it came to organ donations, Canada had one of the lowest rates in the world.
2. Society did not acknowledge organ transplantation as a successful or suitable treatment, nor did
the world medical community give it the 2 thumbs up. Most people viewed it as Frankensteinish,
or experimental. The recipient would be hooked up to machines daily and not live long. Some
considered it as voodoo medicine.
I talked to a lot of people that were in the field, back then, one in particular, Risa Cashmore, who was a
liver coordinator. She explained all this in a way that really influenced me for the rest of my life, she said
the organ shortage was the best kept secret in Canada, and called it a crisis.
If ever I was going to survive my ordeal, I would do my outmost to change this
In 1995, I received a liver transplant with hours left to live. The moment my eyes opened after the surgery,
I wanted to get to work,
First by thanking my anonymous donor family and then by doing something extraordinary to wake up the
country. I was very determined.
Being a Fitness Promoter, I was back in the gym training hard and within a year, got myself in the best
shape, ever. It was during this time, while working out that I thought of walking across Canada to thank
my anonymous donor family.
I created a charity & called it Step By Step. I reached out trying to put together the team that would help
me do this. Not everyone agreed. You see I was walking to thank my donor, but at the same time, I was
challenging all 3 levels of government, to agree with me that this was a crisis and give this issue the
attention it deserves. The key was to create a lot of media attention, invite politicians & celebrities and
lots of people that received & donated organs & people that were waiting.
An unexpected surprise happened near the beginning of the walk. An Olympic style was delivered to my
house, in an anonymous package.
I called the Torch, The Torch Of Life and carried it with me throughout 500 communities across Canada,
and eventually the world.
As I walked from community to Community, arrangements were made to hold press conferences,
assemblies at schools, malls, sporting events, etc. Etc..
Each day I had the opportunity to talk to people from all walks of life and discuss organ donations &
solutions. Literally I talked to millions of people. Each day I would learn something new. I started echoing
to the media & politicians what the public was saying to me and created a list of recommendations, with a
National Registry leading the way. Many other popular suggestions were listed as I shared this to all the
cities & provinces, I visited.
Remember this was the nineties, and many times I had to show my scar, to prove I was a liver transplant
recipient as I was averaging about 38 km a day, one time reaching 56 km. 5 years of walking led to a lot of
interesting stories, which were all documented in film, pictures & proclamations. I guess one the most
memorable time was when I walking and received a call from Vatican City, thinking it was my friend Billy, I
swore at him. Next thing I know, I am on my way to Vatican City, bringing the Torch Of Life to Pope John
Paul 2, who blessed the Torch, and called it a Genuine Act Of Love. He wisely encouraged me to let the
young people carry the Torch. I of course apologized for swearing
This event cannot be underestimated as I passed the Torch in front of almost 100 thousand people in St
Peter’s Square, with cameras from all the world covering this. It was at time when PJP2 made the
Vatican’s position clear on Stem Cell research, being against it, and so by clarifying that they support
organ donations was very important. This also led to other churches & religions engaging in conversation
about organ donations.
Our strategy was paying off, as we noticed Provinces revisiting their organ policies, especially in Ontario
In 1999, Premier Harris invited me to his 2nd Throne Speech as his special guest. In the Throne Speech he
announced that he was responding to my challenge, by creating a premier’s advisory board on organ
donations with 120 million dollars at hand.
We had the opportunity to solve the crisis back then and didn’t. I don’t know what happened, but I wasn’t
chosen, to be part of this board, nor was any of our sound recommendations adapted. Even the Registry
was not accepted, only to be accepted 10 years later. To say I was frustrated and angry was putting it very
mildly. I do however want to take this opportunity to thank Premier Harris, because it was very bold &
courageous to do what he did. I know over the years I was referring to it as the Harris Government
screwing up, but not Premier Harris. As a matter of fact, it’s a real shame that with all the talk of organ
donations lately, that his name doesn’t come up once. That’s why I wanted to honour Premier Harris by
paying tribute to him as the new Bill gets drafted.
I followed the Pope’s wise words & organized thousands of young people to champion the Torch & the
message of organ donations in their respective communities in Canada & USA. One young person in
particular was 13 year old Kristopher Knowles who carried the Torch across 200 communities while in
need of a liver transplant. I engaged in countless debates, and press conferences and lobbied different
policies over the years. Some are in place, most are not. About 6 months ago I came up with the idea of
the Lifesavers Act, but this is really 20 years in the making; and so now I will go into each provision
1. The Lifesaver Donor Program; As we are trying to multiply our cadaveric rate of organ donations, we
must boldly find a way to multiply our live donor numbers, specifically the stranger donor. If we had
everyone registered in Ontario, there won’t be enough organs to go over around a big gap would
still exist. (show the graphs)The Paired exchange Program run by the Canadian Blood Services needs
to be better promoted. But that still will not fill the need. We need to expand the present
compensation program for Live Stranger Donor, by adding an additional program, that the Live
donor could enroll in & get paid by bringing awareness. This would be seen as service to their
country, which is similar to other services that exists, such as police officers, firefighters, soldiers,
etc...This provision would be run by the CBS and adhere to the present guidelines in becoming a live
donor, therefore eliminating ingenious donors.
2. The Torch of Life Alert; We need to multiply our registry of donors by creating a medical alert similar
to the Amber Alert. The Province directs the transplant community, to provide an option to the
families of children that are put on the waiting list for organs. That option is the opportunity to
enlist the community’s help in their child’s plight. The Trillium Gift Of Life Network would manage
this. This provision would also greatly increase the Live Stranger Donor numbers
3. The Ontario Challenge;; This provision would also have a great effect on the numbers. The Province
would direct the municipalities to engage in the Ontario Challenge. Each municipality or
ward/district would have to create a program or plan to increase organ registration in their
community. During intervals of the year, he public can see which community is leading & which is
lagging. In communities that are lagging, emphasis would be made on ideas to improve, especially in
the bigger cities. This initiative would also raise the numbers for live stranger donors. With these 3
provisions I strongly encourage the Private Sector to join in.
4. The Spanish Model;;;This initiative has polarizing views, but it works. The Province reverses the
registry by registering names of people who do not want to be organ donors, thus assuming all
others will. With this system in place, the only real focus needed would be to create the Lifesavers
Program to multiply the live donors. The controversary that exists with this systems can be soothed
if they understand the Spanish Model in it’s entirety, therefore making the criticisms irrelevant if
they support the present system.
Conclusions
The reasons we desperately need all 3 parties to meet is because we all want to sincerely solve this crisis. It
really comes down to how much leeway can we give to allow the Private Sector to join in this issue and give
some leeway on the Spanish Model. We can really solve this issue if we want to, how bad do we want to,
and it’s like the runt fighting for the nipple