Khalife makes passionate presentation to highlight Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week

Despite enduring a four year wait for a heart transplant, Swift Current’s Sammy Khalife continues to be a loud advocate for organ donation.

Khalife attended this past week’s Swift Current City Council meeting to assist in proclaiming the week of April 24 to 30 as Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week.

Khalif’s heart is currently being powered by a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD), but it is only a temporary solution as he remains on the heart transplant list. This is actually the second LVAD he has had installed, as the initial LVAD had a malfunction and needed to be replaced. Unfortunately, transplant waiting patients with a LVAD have a four year life expectancy.

“I think going through it physically and mentally and financially, I’m still alive. I’m kicking. I’ve been doing it for four years now. No one has passed the four years on VLAD. So I’m special,” he told council on April 18.

He shared that he was in a group of eight people from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and British Columbia who began awaiting a heart transplant at the same time. Two of those people have received a transplant, with five of those patients passing away before they could receive the life saving procedure. He remains the only one alive out of group that got VLAD’S at the same time period.

“There was one time that a heart didn’t get transplanted because they didn’t have enough blood in the whole of Alberta for that blood type,” he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a difficult period, with transplant procedures being halted because of COVID, and only recently being resumed.

“The pandemic was mentally draining. It isolated a lot of people because the worry that you’re going to get something. I still wear my mask, and I’m triple vaccinated, and I’m worried. And I can’t afford to be sick.”

He touted the importance of Saskatchewan’s organ and tissue donation website givealifesask.ca. Donor stickers included with everyone’s drivers licences, a recognized form of donor consent, will no longer be valid at the end of this year. Individuals wishing to provide consent for organ donations much enter their name into this database to be included as a potential organ donor.

“You still need to talk to your significant others and family, because they can still override your decision. So that’s still the law. It’s going to take a long process to change that, but the policy has changed and that is simple.”

SCOTT ANDERSON/SOUTHWEST BOOSTER The Art Gallery of Swift Current hosted a special afternoon performance and walk and talk tour with artist Edward Poitras (TOP) on April 24. The afternoon was part of a public reception in recognition of the exhibition Edward Poitras: Revolution in the Rock Garden. The exhibition on display at the Gallery until May 24 represents a focused retrospective survey of the compelling political, spiritual, and provocative work of Saskatchewan, Métis artist Edward Poitras, created over the course of his highly respected four-decade artistic career. Following his talk an outdoor performance of excerpts of Quadriga was performed by Rouge-gorge (BOTTOM), a creation production company led by co-artistic directors Edward and Robin Poitras of New Dance Horizons.