 This is Brent and Blair Cuthbert and we are Aurora High School students, we have been assigned a community marketing promotion project in our Sports, Arts and Event Marketing class where we are required to work with a non profit organization and community partner. The choice was easy for us and we chose to raise organ and tissue donation awareness with the Trillium Gift of Life Network (TGLN). TGLN is a nonprofit organization that promotes Organ Donor Awareness (ODA), administrates and oversees organ donor registration drives in accordance with the legislation and procedures stipulated by the Ontario Ministry of Health to ensure consent form acceptance for registration.
Organ donation has impacted both our lives significantly. Bruce Cuthbert, a life long Aurora resident, our uncle and father, was in dyer need of an organ and was told several times he had months, weeks or days to live. Brent’s father Brad came forward to be a live donor but he was unable due to incompatible dimensions. Fortunately Bruce got a cadaver transplant on September 11, 2011 and has received the Gift of Life.
Our goal is to raise as much organ and tissue donor awareness as we can so others don’t have to go through what we all did. It is not only the person waiting who suffers it is also their families. Who have to watch a loved one dissipate before their very eyes all the while knowing that if only people were more aware of the need and process for organ donation this suffering and potential death would not be necessary.
We have a booth in the Aurora Street Festival June 5 2011, an event put on by the Aurora Chamber of Commerce for the 16th year in a row. Please come out and register to be a donor.
The Town has been very helpful, supportive and encouraging in our efforts. On December 9, 2010 Mayor Geoff Dawe inspired by Blair and his sister Marla’s crusade to secure their Dad an organ, named December, Organ Donor Awareness Month in Aurora at a ceremony at Aurora High School. Our timing is good as recently, Frank Klees MPP Aurora-Newmarket issued a challenge to other MPP's in Ontario to increase donor registration in their respective riding's. His challenge until August 31, 2011 and helps to support our efforts. He and his staff have also been helpful.
In some jurisdictions registration exceeds 80%. The national average in Canada is 17% and Aurora-Newmarket is 20 %. We would like to help raise that level through our drives and inspiring self registration through raisin awareness.
All major religions support organ and tissue donations. One person can save up to 8 lives with: 2 lungs, 2 kidneys, heart, liver, pancreas, & small intestines and enhance over 75 lives. Every three days one person in Ontario on the wait list dies waiting for an organ transplant. There are nearly 1,500 people in Ontario on the waiting list for a life-saving organ transplant and thousands more needing tissue transplants. It doesn’t need to be this way. You can help change this by registering your consent to organ and tissue donation.
Please visit one of our drives and register. If we only register 50 donors during our project we can help save up to 400 lives and enhance 3750 lives. Get involved. We are passionate about this.
Brent Cuthbert and Blair Cuthbert
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