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www.pentictonwesternnews.com VOL.46 ISSUE 72 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 20122
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A LIVING TESTAMENT
For now she will keep his ashes in a jewelry box near her bedside until the time they are taken to a mountain top and released to wherever the winds take them. Thinking back about their time together as a couple, Katherine rememGuy Du Vent bers one of her husband’s favourite quotes. “At the end of the day, he would have enthusiasm for one last push to the end.”
Accident victim’s organ donation saves the life of four others Mark Brett
Western News Staff
From death comes life. That’s the silver lining for a Twin Lakes family after last week’s tragic death of husband and father Guy Du Vent following a mountain biking accident. “Guy was a registered organ donor and I received a call last Friday from a member of the transplant team who told me he had just saved four lives,” said his wife Katherine this week. “It was Guy’s wish (organ donation) and we had talked about it as a family before and he ended up giving four parts: two kidneys, a liver and a pancreas all went to different people. “So when they called and said your husband just saved four lives, it just made me feel so happy, you know, ‘Way to go man, you just did it again.’” She added it was appropriate he was able to help give others that precious gift after he was gone because that was his nature in life, putting the needs of others ahead of his own. “He was like a big brother to those who got to know him,” said Katherine. “If you needed something and he had it to give, without question it was yours. For Guy, his body was like a backpack, and when he died he knew his spirit would no longer be con¿ned to his sixfoot frame, and long ago he made it clear for any item that others could use from that backpack to be removed, so they could carry on their lives. “For him this is just another way of helping somebody else out, that’s all.” Describing him as a “gentle man”
Giving the gift of life
Mark Brett/Western News
KATHERINE DU VENT holds a picture of her husband Guy who died in a mountain biking accident last week. She recently learned his decision to donate his organs has helped save four other lives.
who rarely got angry, she pointed to the more than 150 people who attended a special celebration of his life at the family home last Sunday and the many others who called, as proof of just how much he was loved. “His spirit has invaded all of them and he’s going to be that big brother memory in their heads forever,” said Katherine. “You don’t forget big brothers. He never rufÀed anybody’s feathers and I was very lucky for so many years.” The Du Vents had been together since 1979 and have two daughters, Anna, 31, and Nicole, 30. According to his wife, Guy, 60, was an avid outdoorsman who loved the wilderness and knew the maze of
trails he regularly hiked and biked like the back of his hand. He also enjoyed skiing, and just the day before his accident had been out panning for gold with a longtime friend. Since the donation of Guy’s organs, Katherine has become an even bigger advocate for the process. “Because even at 60 years old your parts are still good enough because they’re (transplant team) happy if they just get one. This is something that isn’t pushed enough. It should be an automatic for people but it isn’t. “For me, it was just such an emotional high and people have to realize that your loved one has just taken off like a rocket.” As dif¿cult as the last 10 days have
been for her, Katherine is quick to credit the efforts of all those who did their best during their time of need. That included his best friends who rode the trails of the Naramata Bench on that hot Monday afternoon searching for him to Penticton Search and Rescue members who arranged to have him airlifted from the scene. As well, there was the medical staff at both Penticton Regional and Kelowna General hospitals who did their best to save him. “Our wishes and our needs were as primary as Guy’s needs and the feedback was clear. They didn’t say, ‘Oh now little lady, just be calm.’ We were kept totally aware at all times,” said Katherine.
Few people like to think about death, let alone talk about it, but Dr. Greg Grant, the executive director of B.C. Transplant, feels it is a conversation every family should have. Working in the intensive care unit of St. Paul’s Hospital in downtown Vancouver, the end-of-life issue is something he deals with on an almost a daily basis. “One of the reasons I got into B.C. Transplant is because I’m one of the docs that has to go and tell a family that bad news,” he said. “I’ve been doing it for about 18 years now and when you approach a family about end of life, it’s a really tough time and it’s kind of hard to do. “But like the family (Du Vent) you mentioned, because they had that conversation, they knew what their loved one wanted.” He added without some clear direction there is added strain, not only on the family but attending physicians as well. So much so, in some cases doctors might not ask the question.
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