'Joe is just a hero': Four-year-old LaSalle boy gets kidney transplant from stranger
A Windsor man is giving up a piece of himself to save a young boy’s life, but up until recently, the pair had never met.
Joe Marchand successfully underwent transplant surgery Friday in Toronto, donating his kidney to four-year-old Carson Hillier.
“Anxious would be my biggest description for how I’m feeling today, but I’m excited for the future,” says Carson’s mother, Megan Hillier. “I’m not excited for this moment per say, but I’m excited for what this will bring for our future.”
Carson was born with what’s called posterior urethral valves, which caused damage to his kidneys. He now has stage 5 kidney disease and was in desperate need of a new one.
And then along came Joe Marchand.
“We didn’t know Joe before this,” says Ryan Hillier, Carson’s father, noting Joe Marchand was a total stranger, their only connection being the fact that their kids went to the same daycare.
When Marchand learned about Carson’s need through the daycare, he was tested and confirmed as a match.
On Friday afternoon, one of Marchand’s kidneys was successfully harvested and sent to Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto where it’s being transplanted into Carson.
“At the end of the day, Joe is just a hero from the community who has given us the best gift that we could ask for,” says Megan Hillier.
As the family waits for the procedure to wrap up and rehab to begin, the story of Marchand’s selflessness has spread to both Carson’s brother’s school -- LaSalle Public School — and Marchand’s kids’ school, Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
“There’s a lot of superheroes in our world… but this is a different level of superhero,” says Our Lady of Mount Carmel principal, Anna Mancini. “It was such a selfless and beautiful gesture on his part, so we wanted to bring attention to it.”
Students at both schools, as well as the daycare which made the connection, wore green in support of transplant awareness.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.