'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
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.