climb the heights for organ donation

On the occasion of World Organ Donation and Transplantation Day, a large number of participants in the Chain of Life Challenge today stormed Mount Royal, in order to climb to its summit, the flag of the organization Chain of Life.

The action, like the organization, aims to support organ and tissue donation education in the school environment and emphasize the importance of adopting healthy lifestyle habits.

Similar challenges were organized throughout Quebec, notably on Mont St-Bruno, Mont Habitant and Mont Ski Montcalm.

« This year, it will be living donors who will be the standard bearers and who will carry the Chain of Life flag to the top of 23 mountains simultaneously, » said Sophie Allard, Director of Communications for Chain of Life.

Prevent disease

According to Chaîne de vie, 888 people are currently on the waiting list to receive an organ in Quebec. Of these 888 people, 620 would be waiting for a kidney, or 70%.

The organization stresses the need to adopt healthy lifestyle habits in order to prevent diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, which in turn can cause kidney failure. This pathology is the tenth leading cause of death in Canada and affects one in ten people.

“Since there is no cure for kidney failure, many people eventually have to resort to transplantation, explains Sophie Allard. It is important to work to plug the breach upstream and thus limit the number of people who will need to resort to a transplant to regain a good quality of life.

The importance of living donation

Living donation is a promising avenue to help reduce waiting lists, according to Chain of Life. These acts of generosity have many advantages since they make it possible to obtain organs quickly, and of greater longevity.

In 2021 in Quebec, 75 people made a living donation, which places the Belle Province at the top of the list in Canada. In 2020, 28% of kidney transplants were made possible by living donors.

« It is by focusing on the incredible power of young people as ambassadors and agents of change that we believe we can create a real culture of giving within Quebec society, » says Lucie Dumont, president and founder of Chaîne de life.

For Thierry Houillon, sponsor of the Chain of Life Challenge and liver transplant recipient, living donors have “the super power to save people who need a new organ to stay alive. But before you want to make such a gesture of generosity, you have to start by having a conversation about organ donation. It is that this fact Chain of life , affirms it.

Isabelle Maréchal, godmother of the Chain of Life Challenge, considers that the Chain of Life Challenges « allow us to encourage this great movement for education in organ and tissue donation in schools while giving hope to people in waiting for a transplant.