Charlottetown man calling for more organ donation awareness

A Charlottetown man in need of a double-lung transplant is calling for more to be done to get the word out about organ donation.

Garth Matthews has two lung conditions — chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis — and relies on an oxygen tank to breathe.

"It's hard to walk any farther than 10 feet, I can't lift anything, I can't cook anymore. I'm totally dependent on my wife," he said.

His wife Rosemary says it's very difficult to watch him struggling to breathe. She has to take care of him until he can get a double-lung transplant.

"It would be the greatest blessing ever because Garth is such a wonderful man and he has so much to offer to the world and he's just way too young to be so sick with this disease," she said.

A year and a half ago, Garth almost made the transplant list, but due to a previous bout of skin cancer, he was refused.

Once he's cancer free for five years, he can try again.

Garth thinks hospital staff need more training about how to speak to families about organ donation.

"I was talking to a young doctor one day and she said, 'You know, I don't remember even touching on the subject of donor and transplant during my training,'" he said.

Health P.E.I. says it provides resources to help staff speak with families about donation and another training session is set for April.

Last year, there were only four tissue donors on the island.

Health P.E.I. is in the midst of creating a new donor registry and data is being entered from over 20,000 surveys that came back from the 59,000 that were were sent out.