I've always had a soft spot for volunteers, but here's a group of people who have either given or recieved the gift of life.
Hence It is a little different this month, not one person, but 6. the original members of the Gift of Life Dragon Boat Team.
"The Gift of Life Dragon Boat Team is comprised of individuals who actively promote organ donor registration and transplantation. We believe organ transplantation works because the majority of our paddlers over the past 5 years have had life saving organ transplants. Our first year as a team was an experimental year. Dr. Don MacKenzie of UBC and Dr. Robert Levy of Vancouver General Hospital wanted to see if a transplant patient's fitness level would improve after a season of paddling. In our first year, every member of our team was an organ donor recipient. We have had heart, liver, kidney, double lung, kidney/pancreas and double lung/heart recipients on our team over the years. Living donors who have donated a kidney to their loved ones have also been members of our team. Six members of our original team continue to paddle to this day. We never worry about winning or losing as we always feel like winners having been given a second chance at life. Our team faces may have changed over the years but our purpose remains the same. To prove that organ donation and transplantation works. We also paddle to honour our donors and their families. If it were not for their unselfish decision to donate their loved ones organs, none of us would have been given the "Gift of Life". For this ultimate gift, we are forever grateful."
-Margaret Benson
Original six still active: Cricket, Kai, ****, Don, Earl, and Margaret
Original six still active: Cricket, Kai, ****, Don, Earl, and Margaret
2005 Team
Beginning practice
Beginning practice
Heading out of dock at FCRCC.
