One phone call, four words and Will and Joni Bouma knew some lives were about to dramatically change.
“The call was from the hospital and they said ‘we found a match,’” Will, the 52-year-old Brantford-Brant MPP, recalled. “Right then we knew that someone was dying and we had the ability to save that person’s life.
“It was an incredibly powerful moment.”
Powerful and emotional.
“We had spent a lot of time talking and preparing for this,” Bouma’s wife Joni said. “But we have a lot going on and up until that point, I wasn’t really emotionally invested.
“That phone call changed every thing.”
Joni realized that her husband of 26 years, the love of her life, was about to undergo seven hours of surgery. He would be giving the gift of life to a stranger on the province’s organ transplant list.
Will’s journey to becoming a living donor began in July 2023 when he and Joni read about Jason Shawana.
A Brantford hockey coach, Shawana had 70 per cent of his liver removed during his battle with cancer. He then needed a liver transplant.
“We first read about it in The Expositor,” Joni said. “We were inspired, wanted to learn more and followed his story on social media.”
The couple looked at photographs of liver transplant recipients and read testimonials of how a transplant transformed their lives.
“But of all the things we learned, one fact stood out,” Joni recalled. “If one out of 10,000 Ontarians were willing to be a living organ donor, that would clear the wait list in this province today.”
Motivated by their Christian faith, Will decided, with Joni’s support, to become a living donor.
“We’re told to love God and love others,” Will said. “This is about loving others.”
Loving others takes commitment.
Healthy and strong, Bouma was a good living donor candidate. But he had to get in better physical condition and reduce the fat in his liver.
“At the time, I weighed 260 pounds,” said Bouma, who is 6-foot-5-inches tall. “I started walking five kilometres a day, I’d swim for an hour-and-half and I started limiting my calories to 900 a day.”
Protein shakes became a staple of his diet and Bouma monitored his calories throughout the day. He lost 40 lbs. and the amount of fat in his liver dropped.
When the call came, he was ready.
Following a family hug, Bouma was taken into the surgical suite where the medical team would spend the next seven hours removing 40 per cent of his liver. They also removed his gall bladder , His liver, in time, will regenerate to almost match what he donated.
Following the operation, Bouma spent another four days in hospital recovering.
Pain killers made him sick and his sense of smell was thrown off. He was in a lot of pain, weak and tired.
He was supported by Joni, their five children – Lena, Titus, Elijah, Jack and Ella – and their friends at Grace Village Church in St. George.
Will and Joni are sharing their story in hopes of inspiring others.
Quoting statistics they have gathered from hospital officials, the Boumas say there are about 4,000 Canadians on the transplant wait list. In 2023, more than 200 Canadians died waiting for an organ.
In Ontario, 1,360 people are waiting for a transplant, 912 for a kidney and 257 for a liver.
The need for organ donations is great, the couple say.
“If we can inspire even one individual to become a donor then we’ll be happy,” Bouma said
Meanwhile, Shawana, the man who inspired the couple, is, sadly, no longer a transplant candidate because the cancer has returned. He is living his life as fully as possible while getting treatment.
Told of how her husband’s story inspired Brantford-Brant’s MPP, Theresa Gillis-Shawana, Jason’s wife, choked back tears.
“Thank-you for sharing that with us,” Gillis-Shawana said. “It’s so impactful, knowing that our story inspired them and has helped save a life.”
The Shawana family has another connection to the Brantford-Brant MPP.
“When Jason got sick and was having trouble getting some benefits, we contacted his (Bouma’s) office,’ Gillis-Shawana said. “They took care of the problem within 24 hours.”
To learn more and to register as an organ donor visit www.ontario.ca/page/organ-and-tissue-donor-registration .
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