Green Shirt Day is about building awareness around organ donor registration, and is in honour of the Logan Boulet Effect.
Global News sat down with Brandy Hehn, a multimedia designer who designed the new Green Shirt Day design, but who also has a much closer connection to the day.
Hehn began her long journey when she was 17 and was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis.
“Your immune system basically attacks your liver, and doesn’t think it is its own.”
She said autoimmune hepatitis has a deceptive name, explaining most people associate the word hepatitis with things like licking ice cubes in Mexico.
“They don’t know what causes it.”
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She said the disease would go into remission, then back out, with doctors finally coming to the conclusion that a liver transplant was needed.
“I listed when I was 24, and then at the age of 25 on March 17, 2009, Saint Patrick’s Day, I got the call for my liver.”
She said the medication she was on due to the transplant ran its course on her kidneys, requiring her to list for another transplant.
“My kidneys took a beating at that time, and at the end of 2009 they were like, ‘You know, you have 26 per cent function left, so heads up you’re going to need a kidney transplant in the future.'”
The doctors told Hehn that she had about 10 years left before a transplant was needed, but she said she started early in 2016.
“I got seven years before I started dialysis. I could have started earlier, but I really held on, because once you start dialysis, you don’t stop.”
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She joked that it was like having a gym membership she couldn’t cancel.
She said it’s a situation that you’re just left sitting through until you get a kidney.
“Only 10 per cent of people that are on dialysis actually get on to the list.”
She said she stressed over things like whether she was sick enough to be at the top of the list if she ever got on the donation list, how long the wait would be, and whether she was too sick to ever be on it.
“And then you have to do all these tests, which in Saskatchewan is incredibly difficult. You would think, ‘Hey, I have a person that needs an organ transplant, instead of paying a quarter of a million a year to put them through dialysis, we will get all their tests done at the hospital over a three-day period.’ But it’s not that. It took over two years to get all my tests done.”
She called the process bizarre, noting there are many cracks in the system.
“Some of the people, because of that, just don’t get a kidney.”
Hehn managed to get her kidney four years later in 2020, adding that she will need another kidney due to some complications she is having with the one she received.
She said in her experience waiting for a liver was easier than waiting for a kidney, noting that at least she knew what her timeline was if she didn’t get a liver.
Hehn said with dialysis you grapple with the unknown, adding that you suffer with all these symptoms without an exact timeline.
“You don’t ever really know what the end story is for you there.”
Hehn said she tries not to think too much about it, but added that you do need to prepare yourself mentally and emotionally to go down that road again.
She said awareness around organ donation was almost nonexistent when she went through the process to get her liver, but the Logan Boulet effect hit by the time she needed a kidney.
“At least now with the Logan Boulet Effect, you get hope that people are at least talking about it. And there are more people on the registry.”
She worked for the REAL District in Regina during the time of the Humboldt Broncos crash, which was Evraz Place at the time, and was tasked with putting together a memorial at the Co-operators Centre.
“I was sent the Humboldt Broncos logo and their team photo, and adding in the kids that weren’t in that team photo to ensure that everyone was included in the memorial.”
She said the team was off to Nipawin, where she grew up.
“In my graphic design career, I never thought I’d have to create a memorial piece for so many young people.”
When she learned that Logan Boulet was an organ donor in the following days, Hehn said it had an impact on her. “It just kept kind of attaching itself to my little soul.”
When it came down to the design for the new shirt, Hehn said it wasn’t something that was initially asked for, but was something she had been inspired to create.
“I had been helping kind of set up and tweaking the basic design of what was going to come out for 2023.”
She said the shirts have been somewhat similar up until this point, and the spark stemmed from a story the Boulets told about how Logan had a Sidney Crosby jersey that he’d always wear until he outgrew it.
“He still has it, Toby sent me a picture of it. It’s so adorable.”
She said the new shirt has a direct nod to Logan Boulet, but it also has a nod to the Humboldt Broncos within the design as well.
“It came out pretty organically. It was probably one of the easiest things, and maybe because it had so much meaning, and every piece was thought out. I really didn’t have to force anything in there.”
“I had free rein because nobody knew about it,” Hehn said.
She offered up the shirt design, saying even if the green shirt day organizers didn’t use it, it could be a piece that they could have on hand.
“I gave my rationale, and it was basically for everyone on the bus, the 16 who didn’t make it and the 13 who did, and they really loved it. I think we all had a little cry over it.”
Hehn also wanted to touch on the topic of organ donation, noting she respects people’s decisions regarding donation, but stressed that people should educate themselves on the subject.
She added it’s nothing like what you’d see in the hospital dramas you see on TV.
“That’s not how organ donation works, all those medical shows.”
She said it’s a whole process, noting it’s not just a lack of signup, but they also have to take into account very specific circumstances around your death before you can even be eligible to be a donor.
“In one way or another, we’re all going to pass. We’re only here for a limited window of time, so if we can help others get their life completely back … there are so many people you can help.”
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