This campaign has a personal connection to YE, the team, and to co-founder Stephanie, as she has a very personal connection to living organ donation.
In late 2021, Stephanie’s then 3 year old son, became very sick, very suddenly and was being treated at Toronto’s hospital for Sick Children. In just days, her son went from being a healthy boy, to fighting for his life. JP required a liver transplant to save his life, and with no time for a deceased donor, Stephanie was tested (in hours) to become a living liver donor for JP. With the support of UHN, and the living transplant team at the Ajmera Centre for Transplant, coordinating with the Hospital for Sick Children, Stephanie was a positive match and her and JP underwent lifesaving and urgent surgery.
Just weeks into her recovery, the YE team discussed establishing a campaign to help increase brand awareness of living donations - and to encourage others to consider this life saving opportunity. The YE team approached the Centre for Living Donation at UHN and that is where GALAM and the campaign was formed. In just months - an idea moved to concept, and to launch.
In just days after launch - the campaign has had national media coverage, millions of impressions and brought participants together from all over the country.
The GALAM campaign featured over 40 living donor/recipients with diverse backgrounds from all across Canada.
Their stories shared their incredible journeys of heroism demonstrating human potential.
These stories were captured and shared across traditional and digital platforms sharing messages of hope, inspiration and building brand awareness and encouraging donation.
This campaign created partnership between University Health Network, BC Transplant and Canadian Blood Services to increase reach and ultimately work to end the organ waitlist.
The campaign reached over 10 million people in Canada with a 99.9% positive response.
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