NYODN
In Toronto, Canada, Khaled Khatib---Carrying the Torch of Life--- Will Finish his Multiple City/Town Ontario Marathon to Promote Organ Donation
In 1995, George Marcello received a liver transplant in Canada and walked more than 7,400 miles to thank his anonymous donor family. He carried what he called the Torch of Life.
Now, 17 years later, June 19, 2012 could be a magic moment for Canada. Three young amazing people with compelling stories, a Muslim, Jew and Christian will join together to promote organ and tissue donation and, at the same time, show the world hope, through love and peace.
At 12 noon on June 19 at the Toronto City Hall, 20 year old Khaled Khatib (who was 13 when his brother Ahmed died), will arrive with the Torch of Life that was blessed by Pope John Paul II. Carrying the Torch, Khaled’s journey will end after 110 days that saw him travel through 75 cities and towns.
In November 2005, in Jenin, Palestine, Khaled’s 11 year old brother Ahmed Khatib was accidently killed by an Israeli Defense Soldier. He joined his family afterwards and donated Ahmed's organs to five Israeli children who are alive today.
19 year old Yael Gladstone will join Khaled. Yael was 9 when his brother Yoni died on September 19, 2002 in Tel Aviv. Yoni was a 19-year-old Scottish Jew who was killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber.
The family donated his kidney to a Palestinian girl, who is alive today.
This Tuesday, at 12:30, Khaled, Yael and Helene Campbell who received a double lung transplant and has appeared on Ellen DeGeneris’s TV show, will arrive at Toronto General Hospital. And then at 1pm at Queen’s Park, all three of them will reach the finish line.
In addition to the Pope, their separate stories have inspired President Gorbachev, President Clinton, Prime Ministers Blair and Ariel Sharon, Leonardo Dicaprio, and Rogers Waters.
Watch the video
{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}
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