'Josh does live on': Yellowknife mother hopes people join organ donor registry

Soon, the N.W.T. will have an organ and tissue donor registry, and one Yellowknife mom is urging people to sign up for it.

Six years ago, Jackie Hardy lost her 18-year-old son Josh in a skateboarding accident. He fractured his skull while skating on the Frame Lake trail. He was medevaced to Edmonton, where he was pronounced brain dead.

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"We decided at the time to donate his organs," said Hardy.

"The next day, we found out from his brother that it actually was his wish — and for an 18-year-old to make those decisions that early in life was great. It kind of reinforced what we had decided."

Doctors harvested seven of Josh's organs for donation. His mother has even heard back from two recipients — the person who received his heart, and another who received a kidney.

"On one hand it brings up sad memories for Josh, but on the other hand knowing that Josh does live on in them makes it feel that much better," said Hardy, explaining the foundation that facilitates the transplants protects the identities of the donor and recipient until both sides are ready to meet.

"You have to correspond back and forth a certain number of times and I just haven't had ... the willpower to do it. It's kind of hard to write letters back and, well it is six years later but we might still do it."

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Hardy considers herself lucky because she and her family didn't have much trouble coming to the decision to donate. But she knows it isn't so easy for all families. That is why she's happy to hear the N.W.T. government is so close to giving people a way to make their wishes known.

"You're in shock usually — it's a sudden injury that you are not expecting," she said.

"If you have to make that decision on behalf of a family member, I mean it's not an easy thing to do. Some people in the spur of the moment say, 'Oh no you can't do that,' when there's so many lives that could be saved."

Gov't shooting for registry to open in February

As of February of next year, officials are aiming for N.W.T. residents to be able to register as organ and tissue donors. The project has been a long time coming — territorial leaders have been discussing how to do it since at least 2013.

In 2015, the territorial government started working with the government of Alberta to host the N.W.T. registry. Discussions were moving along until the 2015 Alberta election, when the newly installed NDP government put the project on hold while they established their priorities. Talks started up again, and the N.W.T. looked to be on track to join Alberta's registry, until another holdup in 2017.

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"The government of Alberta instituted fiscal restraint measures," explained Dave Nightingale, a director with the Department of Health and Social Services.

"So while we were paying for the project work to join the Alberta registry, they couldn't establish a budget within their system. There were some issues, and we were delayed yet again."

Now, Nightingale says not only does the government have a timeline, but the project is going to be cheaper than originally anticipated.

The N.W.T. government set aside $543,000 to set up the registry, but it turns out they only needed $343,000 for it, so they've diverted the extra $200,000 to the government's sobering centre during the spring sitting of legislative assembly.

Who can be a donor?

According to the N.W.T. government, the most commonly transplanted organs are the kidney, liver, heart, pancreas, lungs and small intestine. Tissues that can be transplanted include corneas, bone, tendons, heart valves and skin.

In order to donate organs, a person has to be declared dead inside a hospital, and a ventilator keeps the the heart beating.

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Tissue donations are less restrictive. Donations can happen 12 to 24 hours after death, and the donor doesn't need to be on a ventilator.

Nightingale says before the registry goes up, people interested in organ and tissue donation can make their wishes known to their family and friends, or even write a living will.