One political staffer's need for a kidney transplant is showing the problems others awaiting organs are facing.
Garry Keller is in his mid-30s, happily married and Chief of Staff to foreign affairs minister John Baird.
He's also been waiting six years for a kidney transplant.
"I have the support of friends and family and loved ones around me and that helps immensely on a daily basis," said Keller.
Keller has type B blood, which isn't common.
He said his friends from all political parties have been trying to raise the profile of organ donation for him and all Canadians awaiting a transplant.
"We know how to do transplants. We know Canadians want to donate, be living donors," he said. "We just need the public awareness of how to do it."
"It's a unifying thing and we all pull for each other because we're really one big family here on the Hill," said Chris Froggatt, a longtime friend of Garry's. "Every now and again we get shaken up by something or motivated in a positive way by something like this."
MPs from all parties joined in a special session on organ donation Monday night in the House of Commons.
"It's an issue that's deeply personal for the more than 4,000 Canadians who are waiting for an organ transplant to save their lives," said NDP MP Libby Davies.
A Facebook page has been set up for Keller to find a donor for him and share information about organ donation in Canada.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Norman Fetterley
