Liver donors, recipients and families of those who died waiting for a transplant gathered this weekend for the kick off of National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week.
About 100 people affected by liver disease formed a living ribbon at the Bridgeland-Riverside Community Association at 917 Centre Avenue N.E. as a reminder of what the gift of life can mean to so many.
Celina Thibault has been waiting three years for a liver transplant.
"My time will come," said the mother of a two-year-old daughter and one-year-old son.
Stephen Sheridan, a liver transplant recipient, is now healthy and living a full, productive life.
"I have not looked back for the last 27 months and I'm so grateful to the individual and their family who let me have this liver."
Organ donation rates are dropping in Alberta, and that's a concern to Dr. Kelly Burak.
"That means more and more people are waiting longer and longer. And unfortunately, many people die before they get a liver transplant," said the hepatologist.
One in five people who are put on the liver transplant wait list won't live long enough to receive the transplant.
Burak says about 70 liver transplant surgeries are done in Alberta every year and the success rate is good.
He hopes events like this get more people talking to their families about organ donation.
"It's a hard topic to talk about but I think that's where it has to start," he said. "People have to have that conversation, live your life then give your life."
To find out more about liver transplants in Alberta, please visit the Alberta Health Services website.
