by M-Gillies
In America alone, there are over 93,000 men, women and
children currently waiting for life-saving transplants, a number that is
increasing every 12 minutes as another name is added to the UNOS National
Transplant Waiting List. For these people, they are on the waiting list as
end-stage organ failure patients and their struggle to live depends on the
complex and technologically-advanced organ allocation system that links
patients with organs donated by strangers.
With such a high number of people requiring organ donations,
it turns out that the number of donors is well below a beneficial number. In
fact, as of 2012, UNOS National Transplant Waiting List has approximately
11,716 donors.
From the depths of obscurity, a 20 year-old Ottawa, Ontario
woman has taken to her twitter to rally support for the cause now known as be a
donor.
Helene Campbell began her cause back on November 20, 2011
when she developed a website called www.alungstory.ca which chronicles her
journey toward receiving new lungs in order to breathe well once again, and
enjoy life the way some people may take for granted.
With a diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis,
Campbell’s lungs have been scarred due to inflammation, after receiving
pulmonary function tests, it was determined that she only has 24% lung
function. In order to treat her condition, Campbell and her mother have taken
up temporary residence in Toronto while they await notice of a transplant
donor. While Campbell’s medical bills are covered by the Ontario Health
Insurance Plan, her costs of re-location are not covered.
Being that her family has now been divided, with her mom
taking a temporary leave of absence from her career as a nurse, the family
income has been halved. It was with this endeavour that the conception of a website
chronicling Campbell’s journey came to fruition. To further help her cause,
Campbell and her lifelong friend Kelly Logan began a Facebook event asking
people to tweet about organ donation and to further consider becoming a donor
for a cause that would save not just one life, but one that could save tens of
thousand lives.
“My best friend is going through this and it’s not easy,”
Logan said in an article for Global News. “If I could give her my lungs, I
would, but I can’t do that.”
To spread the word about the importance of being an organ
donor, the young women decided it was time to move in an alternative direction
to spread awareness for the cause, and so began the task of getting Canadian
singing heartthrob Justin Bieber on board.
Since his initial brush with fame, Bieber has generated
upwards of 16.5 million digital disciples worldwide, and understanding the
impact that his voice could have, Campbell and Logan decided to tweet Bieber
with the hashtag #beanorgandonor.
“I would love for Justin Bieber to either retweet or say
something about it himself,” Campbell said to Global News. “I would like to see
him set an example for all of his followers.”
It was after their tweet on January 19, 2012, from
@alungstory which read “Hey @justinbieber! I BELIEB you should use that
Canadian voice of yours and help save lives like mine #beanorgandonor
beadonor.ca #giveblood,” that the hashtag #beanorgandonor began trending across
Canada’s twitter community.
Then something incredible happened.
Meanwhile, as Campbell awaits for her transplant, she has
said she will continue to blog and make videos to spread the message of the
importance of being an organ donor.
Learn More About Helene Campbell at A Lung Story or follower
her on Twitter @alungstory to help spread the awareness and importance of being
an organ donor.
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