Living Donation Week (#LDW2021), September 12-18, hosted by UHN - Centre for Living Organ Donation, is a national awareness week featuring free virtual events and activities focused on improving access and equity in living organ donation, profiling the work of Team Transplant, and celebrating our incredible living donors and transplant recipients.

Each year, living donor transplants save the lives of hundreds of Canadians awaiting a liver or kidney transplant. Living organ donation offers a shorter pathway to better health with a considerably shorter wait time and better health outcomes than a deceased donor transplant. Yet many Canadians are not aware of living donation.

Living Donation Week (LDW) invites the living donor and transplant community to come together to celebrate and spread the word about this life-changing gift, and everyone who makes it possible. It was launched by the Centre for Living Organ Donation in 2020 and is held annually, the week after Canadian Labour Day.

Theme: What’s Your Story?
This year’s Living Donation Week is all about sharing stories. Whether you’re a transplant recipient or candidate, a living donor, a family member, caregiver, or health care practitioner, stories help us understand our own complex experiences, and the experiences of those around us. Stories of living donation play a crucial role in raising national awareness of the life- changing gift of living donation, the resilience of our transplant patients and caregivers, and the dedication of our healthcare teams. Help us spread the message.

New for 2021: Light Up for Living Organ Donation Public Awareness Campaign
Last year, the CN Tower lit up green and white in honour of living donors and their transformative gift of life. This year, landmarks in communities, big and small, across Canada will light up for living organ donation.

Online, we will share living donation stories and messages of gratitude and hope from people with kidney and liver disease and everyone who wants to be part of their future. Employers, families, friends, colleagues, neighbours, living donors, transplant recipients, caregivers, care team members - everyone has a story to share. We invite you to be part of the conversation.

For more information and full event details, visit www.livingdonationweek.ca!