Can one person make a difference?  Helene Campbell, a 20 year old woman from Toronto, Canada, is currently waiting for a lung transplant.  Last week, she sent a message to Justin Bieber on Twitter.  The message was simply, “Hey @justinbieber! I BELIEB you should use that Canadian voice of yours and help save lives like mine,” with hashtags #beanorgandonor and #giveblood.

Helene didn’t know if her simple tweet would make a difference or event be answered, but she thought it was worth trying.  On Saturday, Bieber re-tweeted the message, reaching 16.6 million followers, writing, “@alungstory i got the word … you have amazing strength. i got u.”  Bieber added the hashtag #BeAnOrganDonor.

Since then, The Trillium Gift of Life Network in Ontario has received over 1,000 new online registrations.  As per their facebook page, “The great run continues – since Thursday there have been over 1,000 new online registrations. If you didn’t believe in the power of Twitter before…”

I have watched these headlines with interest.  Helene made the news with her message before Beiber had even responded back.   That simple effort on her part made a difference in registration rates.  Then to have Beiber respond dramatically increased the number of people registering online.  This just goes to show that one person really can make a difference.

If you are not already registered as an organ, eye and tissue donor, choose to make a difference.  Log on to www.yesutah.org and register today.