Legacy #27 – Logan Boulet

Kitchen Table Talk

The Humboldt Broncos bus crash on April 6, 2018 was a shocking, devastating tragedy that brought many to their knees. As the news began to sink in that 16 people lost their lives and 13 suffered injuries, grief rippled through many families and communities, and lives were forever changed.

Logan Boulet lost his life on April 7 as a result of this catastrophic collision. Because he’d signed up to be an organ donor, his death gave life to six people. His choice, and the Boulet family’s decision to honour Logan’s wishes to donate his organs, inspired many others to have conversations about becoming organ donors. The number of people who registered as donors spiked across the country. The Logan Boulet effect, as it has come to be known, is a legacy of hope for untold numbers of people.

Logan’s parents, Bernadine and Toby, along with his sister, Mariko, have continued his legacy by starting ‘Green Shirt Day’ on the one-year anniversary of his death. It is an initiative with the goal of promoting organ donor awareness and the importance of having the conversation with family members about registering as an organ donor.

In an interview with Calgary Herald journalist, Licia Corbella, Logan’s father recounted the day that Logan told him of his decision to become an organ donor. The inspiration for painting this image came to me after I read the following passage:

“We were just hanging out there on the deck,” he says of a random day in August 2017. “Logan just kind of out of the blue said, ‘I’m going to become an organ donor because of Ric.’

“I said, ‘That’s awesome. You’ll be 80 years old and no one will want your organs.’ He laughed and he said, ‘Nope, I’m going to be an organ donor.’

“What really bothers me, what I’ve thought about lately in the last two or three months is that, like probably most adults, I deflected the story,” reflects Toby. “Logan thought about his mortality and I deflected it. Made a joke of it and I hoped like heck it just disappeared. And it did. He never brought it up again.

“We’re pushing hard for families to have that kitchen-table talk. To not be like me and just blow it off. Logan was trying to tell me something and he did tell me, which became very important at our time of crisis,” says Toby, starting to weep.

I call this piece ‘Kitchen Table Talk’. When I created it, I wanted the green jersey, along with the number 27, to be the focal point. It could be anyone wearing the jersey, talking with others at the kitchen table. The others at the table could also be anyone, and they are listening.

NOTE

There are over 4000 Canadians waiting for a transplant and every year hundreds of them die waiting for an organ to be found.

Even though about 90% of Canadians say they support organ donation, only 23% have registered their choice to be an organ donor.

So, please….have the kitchen-table talk with your family. Sign up!

Every province has its own system for registering organ and tissue donors. If you’re not sure how to go about registering to be a donor, follow this link to see what your province requires.

https://organtissuedonation.ca/en

Let’s keep the Logan Boulet effect going!

***All proceeds from the sale of
LEGACY #27
prints will be donated to the
Logan Boulet Endowment Fund with the Community Foundations of Lethbridge and Southern Alberta.***

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