CALGARY – Kristy Thackeray was 13 years old when she received a heart transplant—her only hope for survival due to a genetic disease called restrictive cardiomyopathy.
“I’m a super realistic thinker and my thought was: I may not get a heart in time, and I was accepting that,” said Thackery.
But Thackery’s miracle came by way of Dawn Marie Tremblay, who died the day before her 23rd birthday.
“I actually got my heart on May 26, which was her birthday,” said Thackery.
Tremblay’s family knew to donate their daughter’s organs because as a teenager, she made her wishes known. Years later, Thackery met her donor’s mom and sister.
“The miracle is that when someone is going through the biggest tragedy possible that they can actually find somewhere inside to think about another family,” said Thackery.
And she would rely on that same generosity for her family’s second miracle: When Thackery’s twin daughters were two years old, she learned Shaylynn would need a heart transplant, just as she did so many years before.
Thackery doesn’t know the person who donated their heart for her daughter, but she says the donor will be in her family’s thoughts—just as Tremblay’s memory lives on.
You can register your intention to donate by clicking your province at liveon.ca and you can follow along with Global News in our initiative to help sign up 48,000 people across Canada to become organ donors.
More than 1,600 Canadians are added to organ wait lists every year.
According to the Canadian Transplant Society, an overwhelming majority of Canadians support organ and tissue donation, but less than 25 per cent of people have actually made plans to donate.
We want to change that.
On Monday, April 20, and Tuesday, April 21, we will be holding a TV, online and social media registration blitz to kick off organ donor awareness week, running April 19 to 25.
It’s easy to sign up to be an organ donor – just visit liveon.ca.
With files from Global News
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