Their son, Thomas Quinet, 14, is on life support at the Hospital for Sick Children. The Ottawa teenager, who has been in Toronto for 14 months awaiting a second double-lung transplant, was put in an induced coma on Aug. 7 and hooked to a novalung, a ventilator to assist his breathing.
He is now on a North American-wide list for organs. He has scant weeks to live without a transplant.
His parents are appealing to the public — particularly anyone with a loved one in a position to be a donor. Their goal: “Try to catch as many people in life and death situations as we can, where they are considering the decision to donate organs and tissue,” says Marc.
“If they answer yes instead of no, there is a chance of helping a lot of people, considering each one of those people could be responsible for saving eight lives or, on the tissue side, up to 75 lives could be improved,” Quinet says.
The Star has been chronicling the story of Thomas, a bright teenager who loves wrestling and baseball.
He is one of 1,557 Ontarians currently awaiting a life-saving transplant.
Quinet and Camu have written a letter that they want people to read and circulate far and wide.
“What we’re trying to do is address the supply issue,” Quinet says. “By maximizing the coverage of Tom’s story... it might put us in a position where we catch a break. The only thing we can do is to plead and put it front and centre in as many ways as we can.”
You can register your wish to be an organ and tissue donor at beadonor.ca.
To the people of North America,
Our family needs your help. Our only child, Thomas-Paul Quinet (14 years old), has a critical need for new lungs. We have been waiting for almost 14 months for suitable organs to become available. A few days ago, Thomas needed a breathing tube to continue living. He is in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. The doctors who are treating him have told us that, while every person is different, Thomas has a very limited amount of time to live in his current condition.
We are painfully aware of the chronic shortage of organs and tissue. There are many reasons why. One of them is the relatively small number of people who have expressed and registered their desire to donate their organs and tissue before they pass away. Children and adults of virtually any age can be potential donors. Some organs (partial and complete) can be donated while you are still living, including lungs.
Would you consider finding out how you can register your wishes to be a donor in your province or state? Just recently we found out, due to medical advances, that Thomas can now receive a gift of lungs (and life!) from across North America!
Could we ask you to do one more thing? Please speak to one other person about what you’ve just read and then ask if they would do the same. We realize there are so many great causes in our society today. Could you make our cause yours for the next few weeks?
With sincere and heartfelt thanks,
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