In honour of Father’s Day this year, we’d like you to put yourself in Jim and Marah’s children’s shoes. Just for a moment. We promise it will provide the urgency you need to sign up to be a donor.

Jim is a very sick man. He needs a new heart. The impact of his chronic illness is devastating to his two children. Brett, the youngest, is a stoic young man (no question as to where that comes from) who has lived with his dad’s illness pretty much all his life. When asked what he wants for his dad, his words are almost swept away until he quietly wishes that “things could be normal again – though I’m not sure what that is for Dad………maybe for him to not hurt so much”.

Now Ellis, Jim and Marah’s first-born, has a special relationship with her Dad. It’s that classic daddy-daughter bond, but in this case so powerful for both of them. For Jim, upon the birth of his beautiful daughter his “very own family” began. As an adopted child himself, the wonder of the little pink bundle in his arms was more than he ever wished for. For Ellis, the bond she has with her “Daddy” is unbelievably strong – he’s the rock, the sounding board, the hero and the foundation in her life. And now, her anguish at her daddy’s illness is beyond words. She spends a lot of her time just sitting with him – truly for the joy of it, sometimes though with tears in her eyes, feeling protective and scared. Both Brett and Ellis are living with fear for their dad, and the agony of watching him wait for the heart transplant that could save his life.

If you are still in Brett and Ellis’s shoes it’s very hard to understand why everyone is not signed up to be an organ donor isn’t’ it? Save this father’s life, and all the other fathers, brothers, sisters, mothers, and children on the waiting list for an organ transplant.

On this Father’s Day, sign up to be an organ donor in Ontario and anywhere in Canada. (Not from Canada? Contact us and we’ll help you find out how to sign up where you live.) Save a life. Please – be inspired by Jim’s story and by Brett and Ellis. Share this message far and wide.

(Jim introducing Brett to Ellis)