The week of September 7 to 13, 2025, has been designated as ‘Living Organ Donation Week’ in the province to celebrate living organ donors, recipients and to shine a light on organ and tissue donation.
Debbie Onishenko needed a kidney and took things into her own hands and she started advertising her need for a kidney on her vehicle.
“I had been on a list for a long, long time, and my kidney function was down to 8%, and I thought, okay, this is it, I’ve got to do something,” said Debbie Onishenko “People started calling and I must give a big shout out to the media, all the TV stations around and everything took the story from my car, and so many wonderful people called to donate kidney to me, which was just absolutely amazing. There are amazing people out there, and Brent was one of them.”
Brent Krugur, a living donor, seen Debbie’s story and made the call.
“I ended the night by looking at the different news articles that are on Google News, and there was one story that kind of popped out at me. It was a story of a lady in Saskatoon who had a message on the back of her window that said kidney needed, and her blood type, and her phone number, and share your spare,” explained Brent Krugur. “I would consider it a light bulb moment, like there was something that shifted inside of me, that moved inside of me, that told me that I needed to give that number a call.”
Anyone who is 16 years of age or older can sign up to donate their organs and/or tissues when they pass away. The best way to inform medical professionals of your decision is to register as an organ and/or tissue donor. The entire registration process takes place online.
To learn more about organ and tissue doantion in Saskatchewan visit: givelifesask.ca
Here is the full interview with Debbie and Brent.