By Chad Klassen

Kamloops teen urging peers to talk about organ donation

Apr 22, 2016 | 9:37 AM

KAMLOOPS — It’s National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week, and a Kamloops teen who received a heart transplant as an infant is trying to educate her peers on the importance of organ donation. 

Abby Farnsworth was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome at five months old. It’s a rare heart defect, which causes the left side of the heart to be underdeveloped. It required her to have a heart transplant, and over the last two days at Brock Middle School, she’s been encouraging her fellow students to have a conversation about organ donation.

Because Abby received a transplant, she’s been able to live a relatively normal life, participating in three Transplant Games. 

As of January 1 of this year, 562 people in B.C. are on the waiting list for a transplant, yet just 20% of the province has signed up to be an organ donor. 

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But through increased awareness, numbers are continuing to climb. For more information or to sign up to be an organ donor, you can visiting Transplant BC’s website.