Alberta's only double living donor shares story to raise organ donation awareness

Meghan Rozema of Sherwood Park is Alberta's only person to have donated two organs while still alive — part of her liver to one stranger and one kidney to another. She's also one of just a few double living donors across Canada.

Rozema's decision to donate came in 2020 after years of consideration. A social media post asking for a kidney donor in 2018 first planted the seed. She later attended a hockey game where organ and tissue donation was promoted, and a conversation with a kidney donor at a barbecue solidified her resolve. When she finally called the living donation program in 2020, she was determined to help.

She was hospitalized for six days at the University of Alberta Hospital for the liver donation, then two days for the kidney donation. She describes the donation journey as a minor inconvenience — she sometimes forgets she underwent two surgeries at all.

Michelle Skogstad, a living donor coordinator with Give Life Alberta, called Rozema's case "extremely rare and special." What struck Cassandra Garneau, also with Give Life Alberta, was not just the rarity but Rozema's extraordinary decision to help two complete strangers. "It's not really the rarity of it, but it's the fact that she made that extraordinary decision to help two people, and in her case, complete strangers," Garneau said.

Rozema is a mother of three and a volleyball coach. Her daughter once chose her as the subject of a school assignment about heroes, discussing both the plasma donation and the double organ donation. "My kids are very proud of me, absolutely," Rozema said.

More than 500 Albertans are currently waiting for life-saving transplants. For kidney recipients, donation means getting off dialysis or avoiding it entirely — getting life and family back. For liver recipients, it means a chance to live. One organ donor can save up to eight lives, while one tissue donor can improve or save lives. Give Life Alberta, the rebranded Alberta Organ and Tissue Donation Program, launched the "All the Ways" public awareness campaign in 2024.