BC Transplant’s Operation Popcorn program made a visit last Wednesday (Dec. 6) to Abbotsford Regional Hospital.
Operation Popcorn is an annual tradition where transplant recipients, living donors and donor family members thank hundreds of health professionals across B.C. for the gift of life.
This year, almost 100 volunteers delivered more than 100 tins of popcorn to 28 hospitals in B.C., and one in the Yukon from Dec. 4 to 8.
Tony Maidment, the team captain for Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, made the delivery for the first time as a transplant recipient. He received a transplant this spring after waiting six years for a new liver.
“This year’s Operation Popcorn is so very special to my family and me,” he said. “Although it’s a small gesture, to be able to thank some of the incredible doctors, nurses and hospital professionals in person means so much to us.”
“Health professionals do extraordinary things every day in this province,” said Health Minister Adrian Dix. “Thanks to their commitment to making life-saving transplants possible, hundreds of British Columbians have more time with their loved ones this holiday season.”
BC Transplant provides provincial oversight for all aspects of organ donation and transplantation in B.C., and is an agency of the Provincial Health Services Authority.
B.C.’s three transplant centres are BC Children’s Hospital, St. Paul’s Hospital and Vancouver General Hospital.
Transplant patients receive follow-up care at the transplant centres or at one of eight regional clinics close to their home community.