Honouring 'heroes' with organ donor monument in Sudbury

There is anew memorial in Sudbury, Ont., which honoursorgan donors.

The stone monument is erected along Lorne Street at Oak Street, and includes flower bedsand a flag pole.

Two benches will also be added says Bob Johnston, who came up with the idea to create a memorial for organ donors.

• New monument to honour organ donors in Sudbury, Ont

Johnston received a kidney two years ago from a donor he says he never got to meet.

During the ceremony to unveil the monument, Johnston calledorgan donors'heroes'.He says he wanted to honour their decision to become donors.

Also speaking at Friday'sceremony wasNancy Griffin, the wife of the late Rich Griffin.

He wasa well known radio personality in Sudbury who died suddenly in May 2015.

• Sudbury mourns loss of popular radio host Rich Griffin

Rich had registered to be an organ donor several years before his death. Nancy says she knew right away what to do when her husband suffered a brain aneurysm.

She says the decision to allow Rich's organs to go to others was still emotional, but knowing he still lives on in others is comforting.

Rich donated five major organs his heart, his lungs, his kidneys and his liver.

'It helped me to cope'

Nancy does have advice forfamilies who may be going through this samedecision.

"Organ donation can turn this horrible, tragic, sad time in their life into something meaningful. It's really hard to imagine that when you're in it, but it really does give the whole situation meaning and helps you to cope."

"It helped me to cope. It helped me to heal," Griffin says.

To register to be a donor go to beadonor.ca. If you're not sure if you're already a registered donor, simply look at the back of your Ontario Health card. If the word donor is there, then you've already registered.