Aaron Hansen loved adventure, and according to his parents, it was always his desire to make the world a better place.
The healthy 29-year-old physiotherapist and avid hiker was living life to the fullest – when Laura and Steve Hansen got a heartbreaking call on Oct. 22, 2022.
“He left Salmon Arm, hit black ice, the vehicle flipped and he hit an oncoming truck,” his mother Laura Hansen tearfully recalled in an interview.
“Our life changed.”
Four days later, the Hansens lost their middle child, one of five siblings, to a catastrophic brain injury.
“It’s like something’s been ripped away from you,” Steve Hansen told Global News.
While his son never regained consciousness after the collision on the Coquihalla Highway, Aaron’s heart, lungs, kidneys and liver were spared.
Since Aaron’s mother encouraged him to sign up to become an organ donor at age 16, his healthy organs were passed on to five people.
Aaron was one of a record 159 deceased B.C. organ donors in 2022, whose life-saving gifts facilitated 465 transplants.
“Death didn’t get the final word,” said Aaron’s father.
“Aaron was able to carry on in his or through his death, he was able to keep giving.”
BC Transplant said last year’s 465 recipients of the gift of life are able to lead fuller lives – thanks to donors like Aaron and the families who chose to say yes to organ donation in a difficult time.
“Having people willing to come out and talk about it afterwards, and to share the stories, we hope will get others to think about registering and letting family know,” said donation services medical director Dr. Sean Keenan.
“So that if they ever happen to be in the same tragic situation, they know what their loved one would want.”
As of Dec. 31, 2022, BC Transplant said 527 people in our province are still awaiting life-saving organ transplants.
“It’s so hopeful for us, and it costs you nothing but it gives so much to somebody else,” said Laura Hansen.
“We think Aaron’s organs were kind of turbocharged – like you’re not getting just an ordinary heart,” said Steve Hansen, who is interested in connecting with the individuals who received Aaron’s organs in the future.
“What that must feel like would be something that maybe one day, we’ll get to meet them.”
Aaron’s parents cherish the BC Transplant heart-shaped pendants they received – when their son gave the gift of life.
“When people say ‘Oh, I love your heart’, I get to share that my boy that I’m so proud of, is an organ donor,” said Laura Hansen.
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