Organ and Tissue Donation

From Loss to Life
Giving the gift of life to others

Something was seriously wrong when Suzanne Hills arrived at the Peace River home of her 49-year-old mother, Janette Pelletier. Water from an open tap flooded the floor and Janette, lying on the sofa, was pale, disoriented and nauseous–a stark contrast to her normally active self who just hours earlier guided children on a spring nature walk.

After rushing Janette to hospital, her family learned that she would be immediately air transported to Edmonton.

Saying goodbye, they rushed by car to Edmonton where shock and grief set in. Janette, their strong, vibrant mother, grandmother and sister had suffered a brain aneurysm.

She was now tragically on a ventilator with no hope for recovery and declared clinically brain dead.

Amid their sadness, Janette's family honoured her wishes to become an organ and tissue donor. The topic arose just weeks earlier after Janette and her daughter, Anne, watched a movie about a father's desperate search for an organ to save his son.

"Mom was so mad. She couldn't figure out why someone wouldn't donate to help that child," recalls Suzanne.

Today, thanks to the generosity of Janette and her family, six people have received her organs and countless others are benefiting from her tissues.

"Mom helped people throughout her entire life," says Suzanne. "She even helped people in her passing."