THUNDER BAY — Sunday, February 24 marks 20 years to the day that Dale Shippam received a recycled heart and the chance to live a normal life.
A suspected virus had so weakened the Thunder Bay firefighter's own heart that it could no longer sustain him.
Shippam was in the Intensive Care Unit at Toronto General Hospital for six weeks in 1999 before his doctors told him a suitable replacement had been located through the organ donation network.
"I was very lucky that a family was able—in their grief—to say 'yes' to donation," he says.
Shippam returned to work after a bit over a year, and over the past two decades has worked to promote the need for organ donations.
"It's done so much for me and I have met so many others that it has done the same for, whether it's a heart, lung, liver, kidney....it allows people to go on with their lives," he told Tbnewswatch.
Now retired, the 67-year-old said he has also heard from numerous donor families "who have gotten strength from the fact that something good has come out of a tragedy that they've had to live through. They know that up to seven people have been allowed to continue their lives" through the donation of their loved one's organs.
Shippam said data from Ontario's organ donor registry shows that the participation rate in Thunder Bay is higher than the provincial average (50 per cent vs. 33 per cent) but he's encouraging other community members to consider signing up.
"If anybody wants to see if they're a donor, they can look on their OHIP card. It says if you're a donor. If not, you can register at beadonor.ca," he noted.
Shippam has travelled around the world over the past two decades promoting the cause.
He's been on expeditions in Antarctica, Nepal, Spain and BC, skied to the North Pole and the South Pole, trekked in Bhutan, canoed the Nahanni River in the Northwest Territories, and cycled across TIbet.
Shippam participates in a Canadian Transplant Association program called Test Your Limits, which raises organ donation awareness and funds.
His most recent adventure took him on a 500 kilometres, month-long journey on skis across Greenland last year, a trip he described as "very tough.".
Now he is looking forward to his next adventure, a solo 900-kilometer walk in April that will follow the Camino del Norte in Spain.
In June 2020 Shippam will join an expedition to climb the highest mountain in Equador.
The Trillium Gift of Life Network reports that 20 Thunder Bay residents are currently waiting for an organ transplant.
Shippam hopes his testimony will ultimately lead to these individuals getting the same opportunity he received to continue leading a happy and productive life.
