Legacy lives on for Broncos crash victim
Mother follows daughter’s lead by donating blood
SASKATOON Before she died from injuries sustained in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash, Dayna Brons gave her hair, her blood and her time.
Brons — the Broncos’ athletic therapist, and the only woman to die in the April 6, 2018 collision that claimed 16 lives — was a donor, in many ways. Last June her mother Carol, thinking about her daughter the whole time, made her own first blood donation.
“I do it in her memory,” Carol said Tuesday. “She would have continued on donating, and I feel like I’m stepping in for her.”
Dayna gave blood approximately 10 times, and donated her hair after cuts. She planned to give more blood that spring. Instead, she received several transfusions in the five days she lived after the collision.
Her father, Lyle, can’t donate because of health reasons, but Carol has done so three times. The last time, she received a surprise: The current Broncos hockey team lent their support by arriving en masse as she prepared to quietly donate.
“I’m kind of used to being a bit in the spotlight,” said Carol, who was thrust there after the crash, “but that was a little bit more than I was expecting — sitting in a chair, and all of a sudden, 15 young men come in. They were really good. It was interesting.”
More interesting things will happen Wednesday night at the Saskatoon Blades game: Carol will shoot between periods for a chance at a $1,000 donation from Canada Life to Canadian Blood Services in Dayna’s honour.
She’s practised a bit, Carol said, “but with the amount of snow in the yard, it’s kind of hard to do.” She laughed.
“They keep saying, ‘No pressure ... but have you been practising?’ So we’ll see. Hopefully it’ll at least get down to the net.”
Carol and Lyle support Hockey Gives Blood, an organization started up after the Broncos crash. It’s partnered with Canadian Blood Services, and works to engage and educate the hockey community about blood and stem cell donation. The Dayna Brons Honorary Award, given by Hockey Gives Blood to a person in the puck community who “exhibits outstanding dedication towards patients who rely on blood and stem cell products in Canada,” was recently presented to OHL player Jacob Ingham.
“It’s important to us as a family to promote it,” Carol said, “because you never know when you need it.”
She’s learned a lot about blood and stem-cell donation. She can talk about success rates; about desirable age demographics. Carol and Lyle are extending Dayna’s legacy the best they can.
“Part of the reason why it’s so special to us,” she adds, “is Dayna was a blood donor, and she potentially could have been an organ donor, but wasn’t able to. She donated her hair, and she donated her time quite a bit with different things.”
And from those quiet, personal decisions comes a family’s desire to amplify their daughter’s voice about something that mattered.
“It was one of those things she just did,” Carol said. “She didn’t make a big thing about it.”