A massive local social media campaign for organ donor awareness reached its first target Saturday morning.
Ottawa's Hélène Campbell launched the #BeAnOrganDonor campaign Thursday to try and get a mention from Justin Bieber to his 16.6 million Twitter followers.
Justin Bieber sent out a number of tweets Saturday, the first a re-tweet from Campbell's account and the next few telling her she had his support.
"i got the word....you have amazing strength. i got u. #BeAnOrganDonor," he tweeted, later tweeting the link to her website.
"That means the world, that not only he has me but supports the cause behind it," Campbell said. "He's like 'I know what you're trying to do, you're trying to raise awareness for this, I got you, I'll help you out with it.'"
The hashtag #BeAnOrganDonor has since become very popular on Twitter, trending for days in Ottawa and getting mentions from Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and Premier Dalton McGuinty.
The Trillium Gift of Life network said online donor registrations were up 600 per cent on their website on Thursday, when the campaign started.
"I couldn't have done it alone," Campbell said. "Everyone else helped so that's super super encouraging, a huge hug to everyone and they really took my breath away."
Campbell moved to Toronto Thursday with her mother to await a double-lung transplant.
"I didn't ultimately do it for myself, that wasn't like 'Oh, maybe if I do this I'll get a faster transplant,'" she said via Skype. "I never did it for any of that. I just thought this is something people should be aware of."
Campbell said she's not done spreading the word, setting her sights on another influential celebrity.
"I'm a huge Ellen DeGeneres fan and I thought let's get to Justin first," she said. "Then if we can get to Justin we can hopefully get to Ellen, so maybe that will be next."
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Vanessa Lee
