The legacy of Humboldt Broncos’ Logan Boulet will be honoured by the Kidney Foundation of Canada during a gala in Saskatoon.
Boulet, 21, was in his third season as a defenceman with the junior A hockey team when he died in the collision between the team’s bus and a semi-trailer on April 6. Sixteen players and staff were killed in the crash and 13 others were injured.
Just weeks prior to the crash, Logan shared his desire to donate his organs with his parents, Toby and Bernadine Boulet.
“Logan’s mentor, his training coach, passed away with a brain aneurysm … and back in August sometime, Logan and I are sitting back there and Logan pretty well announced to me that he’s going to sign his donor card and donate his organs as he passes away in honour of Rick,” Toby said during a Skype interviews from Lethbridge, Alta.
“I said to him ‘that’s awesome, you’re going to be 80 years old and they want your organs’ and we both laughed and that was kind of the end of that and then he did say he was going to sign his donor card when he turned 21 and that’s what he did.”
WATCH BELOW: Family of Logan Boulet speak about organ donation
Not only was it an incredible gift of life, but Logan’s donation also sparked a national tide of support now widely known as ‘The Logan Boulet Effect.’ His gift inspired an estimated 100,000 Canadians to register their intent to donate their organs.
“It’s absolutely amazing. We get messages often on Twitter or Facebook from people who are saying ‘I signed up too’ or ‘I registered to become an organ donor’ because of Logan,” Bernadine said.
“You’re just overwhelmed by that because it’s just kind of something that he did because it was the right thing to do and the fact that all these other people are doing it because they were inspired by what he did is overwhelming.”
Bernadine said knowing Logan’s heart is beating somewhere gives them a little bit of peace.
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Toby and Bernadine will be speaking at Kidney Foundation’s Fright Night Fashion Gala on Oct. 19 in Saskatoon.
“I want to talk about Logan’s kindness. Logan was a kind, young man – amazingly kind. I heard about that lots. He went to the high school that I teach at and his acts of kindness to people was legendary … Logan was kind and genuine and he believed in ‘that’s the message I’m going to carry,’” Toby said.
“I just want to talk about how Logan has done this without expecting any … recognition or any praise. He just did it because it was the right thing to do,” Bernadine said.
“It’s the same thing as when we were in the hospital … they didn’t even ask about donating organs, we volunteered to donate his organs first cause it was the right thing to do.”
WATCH BELOW: Logan Boulet inspires others to become organ donors
They stress potential donors should discuss becoming a donor with their family.
“As it sits now, especially in Saskatchewan, parents or family members can make that decision at the end and so if you’re family doesn’t know what your wishes are than even if you’re registered or you’re wishing to be a donor and you’re family doesn’t know it, they can choose to say ‘no, we don’t want organs or tissues to be donated,’” Bernadine said.
“In the case of Logan and the crash … his wallet was nowhere to be found until much, much later and so we only knew that he wanted to be an organ donor because he told me the summer before,” Toby said.
The Kidney Foundation said 4,500 Canadians are waiting for a transplant, and 77 per cent of them are waiting for a kidney. In 2016, 260 people died while waiting for an organ donation.
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