Hearing from organ recipient ‘amazing,’ widow says

The day Cora Laich had been hoping for arrived on Thursday.

Laich’s husband, Simon Grant, died from injuries he sustained during a robbery at his restaurant, Louisiana’s Bar-B-Que, back in April. Before his death on April 17, she honoured his wish to donate his organs including his lungs, liver, kidneys and pancreas islets.

In May, the Saskatchewan Transplant Program contacted her family to let them know that Grant’s lungs, liver and kidneys were successfully transplanted.

The recipient of his liver reached out to Grant’s family through the Saskatchewan Transplant Program — the identity of the donor isn’t revealed to the recipient and the identity of the recipient isn’t revealed to the donor.

“It was extraordinary. It was amazing,” she said. “Just to think that Simon’s liver is actually in another person’s body and that his family and him are going to have many years of joy and happiness ... I think it would have been a dream come true for him to give that gift of life to another person.”

The man who received Grant’s liver is a husband, father and new grandfather. In his letter, he writes that his health was bad in recent months and he was in pain.

“I am grateful that you agreed to help others during what must have been an extremely painful time. This decision is amazingly heroic,” the man wrote.

Four people have been charged in connection to Grant’s death. An adult and two youths face seconddegree murder charges. A fourth person is charged with accessory to murder after the fact.