Vancouver PeeWee hockey coach finds organ donor after team's video campaign
After his team rallied behind him, a Vancouver PeeWee hockey coach has successfully found an organ donor.
Stephen Gillis — who has Crohn’s disease — needed to find a kidney donor after he was diagnosed with a rare form of kidney disease.
On April 7, Gillis announced that his friend, Mike Teigan, will be donating his kidney to him.
It’s #greenshirtday, so I wanted to share the amazing moment of me finding out that my dear old friend, Michael Teigen, will be donating his kidney to me. I HAVE A DONOR GUYS!!!!! I have so much gratitude for Michael, my hero. Be a hero for others & sign up to be an organ donor. pic.twitter.com/oomxObs7k5
— Stephen Gillis (@stephengillis) April 7, 2019
“I HAVE A DONOR GUYS!!!!! I have so much gratitude for Michael, my hero. Be a hero for others & sign up to be an organ donor,” wrote Gillis on Twitter.
Gillis said he wanted to share the news because April 7 was Green Shirt Day. The campaign was inspired by Logan Boulet, a player for the Humboldt Broncos who passed away in last year’s deadly bus crash.
Boulet’s parents agreed to donate his organs — a decision that ended up saving six other lives.
In January, Gillis’ PeeWee team created a video campaign to help their coach find a donor.
“Even though Stephen is really sick, he never misses our practices or games. For Stephen to continue leading our team, on and off the ice, he needs to find a living donor to provide him a kidney for a transplant,” wrote the team on YouTube.
“To assist our coach in finding a donor, as a very personal good deed, we created this video to share his message of need. We hope you too can share our message and help give our coach the gift of life.”
The team was also selected for the Good Deeds Cup — a cross-Canada contest urging PeeWee hockey teams to give back to their communities.
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