6 organ donor facts from a cycling medical student

Quinn Thomas, a 21-year-old medical student from Montreal who is cycling across Canada, stopped in Regina to talk about the importance of organ and tissue donations.

Thomas set out June 25, starting in Tofino, B.C., and hopes to reach Cape Spear, a point east of St. John's, in about three months.

Along the way he has been stopping in towns and cities to encourage people to register as organ donors and to share their decision with family.

He said that as a medical student he often met patients in need of transplants and was dismayed by how he was not able to help because of a shortage of donors.

"I started feeling unfulfilled because I had really privileged access into the intimacy of patients' lives during their moments of most vulnerability and despair, without being able to provide concrete medical services," Thomas said. "This ride [to raise awareness of the need for donors] is something I can do."

Here are six facts about organ and tissue transplants that Thomas has been relaying during his trip:

• There are six organs that can be transplanted: heart, kidney, pancreas, lung, intestines, liver.
• There are five body tissues that can be transplanted: cornea, skin, bone marrow, heart valve, connective tissue.
• The majority of organ donation recipients are patients in need of a kidney.
• One person's donation has the potential to save the lives of eight patients.
• Only 14 per cent of Canadians have registered to be donors, even though opinion surveys indicate 85 per cent of Canadians believe donations are worthwhile.
• It takes 135 days — and sometimes longer — for an eligible kidney donation patient to receive an organ transplant. Thomas plans to finish his cross-country tour in less than 100 days.

Thomas aims to cover about 100 kilometres per day on his trek.

"This is the hardest thing I've ever attempted in my life," he added. "But I'm sure that one day of cycling does not compare to one day on dialysis."