Vital Bonds

We’ve all heard about the organ donation crisis. Even in wealthy countries, doctors lose patients who could have been saved with a transplant. In Canada alone, one in four on the lung wait list die in want of a transplant. Over 4,500 Canadians are waiting for kidneys. Every day, four of them die. For the first time ever, the new one-hour documentary Vital Bonds brings audiences into Canada’s busiest transplant center. Here, viewers witness the human impact of both the giving and receiving of organ donation. Viewers get to see first-hand how the process can affect everyday Canadians like themselves. The documentary gives unprecedented access to surgeries and intensive care units with unflinching authenticity. It allows viewers to see the realities of life for ICU patients on transplant wait lists. Audiences witness the decision making process around a loved one’s death. They experience the critical, time-sensitive movement of human organs between donor and patient via jet and ambulance – and see a family’s relief upon hearing an organ is available. The storytelling includes several powerful never-seen-before fly-on-the-wall sequences. One story is the story of a family coming to terms with the sudden loss of their beloved 28-year old son Matthew. The cameras follow every heartbreaking development as a life-saving struggle yields to tragedy. Viewers witness the agonizing journey this family takes with their son, and stand alongside them as they confront the fateful decision to donate his still-living organs so that others will have a second chance at life. Interwoven with emotionally raw personal narratives, viewers witness surgeons and scientists pushing the medical boundaries of what’s possible. While saving lives today, these techniques also offer the promise of solving the organ shortage and ending organ rejection tomorrow.