12:15pm ET | George Marcello, CEO Step By Step, and advocate for Organ & Tissue don

GUEST – George Marcello, CEO Step By Step, and advocate for Organ & Tissue donation

TOPIC – Lifesavers Act – a new proposal to address the present shortage of organ donations in Canada.

INFO – The Dilemma: For over 20 years, Canada has had one of the lowest organ & tissue donor rates in the entire world. It is a sad fact that finally the majority of Canadians have accepted. The dilemma is that, because of the shortage, over a thousand Canadians die while waiting for an organ to arrive, and thousands more will die unless we fix this. The system failed them & their families. In the past 20 years, attempts were made to address the shortage through awareness programs & additional Legislative policies. Modest gains were made, but very short of solving the shortage anytime soon.

Our efforts to increase Cadaveric organs alone, will be fruitless, unless we join the focus on Live donations, specifically the stranger, or indirect donor.

George Marcello will discuss the solution….The new policy is called the Lifesavers Act, which he says will take bold action by our Federal Government to pass new Legislation, or to have our Provincial Government add new resolutions to their existing organ policies.

George Marcello, has been an advocate for Organ & Tissue donations for almost 20 years. His charity – Step By Step, alerted Canada to this issue, and he has been involved in every policy change for Organ Donations. He is well versed on the organ donation system in Canada and around the world.

Step By Step is also helping Anthony Socci with a project called Anthony’s Hero. Khaled, A young man of 21 years of age will be carrying the famous Torch of Life, in an 18 day marathon from Ottawa to Toronto. Starting Feb 5 in Ottawa and finishing in Toronto Feb 22. The Torch of Life which was blessed by Pope John Paul 2, and the entire marathon will be filmed live on the charities website, torchoflife.com