Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk says he only recently found out just how close he came to complete liver failure and the experience has inspired him to champion the cause of organ donation in Ontario and beyond.

In 2015, he was bedridden in hospital with less than 10 per cent of his liver function. Doctors told him he needed a transplant â€” and soon. But so did 252 other people in Ontario.

"Not being in that world at all, I didn't realize there's actually a line-up — first of all to get into the hospital," Melnyk said. "Then once you get in, and there's a battery of tests, they advise you whether or not you will get on a list. And that's a big victory, I remember that — that you got onto this mystical list of people who are waiting for an organ."

Melnyk says every morning for months, doctors and nurses would tell him, "Today isn't our day."

That's when he went public. The Ottawa Senators put a call out seeking a live liver donor, and just days later, he was recovering in Toronto General Hospital after receiving life-saving liver tissue.

Now fully recovered and feeling "150,000 per cent," Melnyk has created a foundation called The Organ Project to build more awareness about organ donation, and end the transplant wait list.

"Our mandate is to go out and save lives directly by increasing the number of donors that exist out there," he said.

'Solvable problem'

Right now, only 31 per cent of Ontarians are registered donors. That's about four million people out of an eligible 12 million.

Still, the provincial agency that co-ordinates organ and tissue donations says 2016 was the third straight record year for donation and transplants. The Trillium Gift of Life Network attributes the increase partly to the work of Ontario's hospitals in referring all potential donation cases to the agency, and partly to growing numbers of people registering online as would-be organ donors.

"It takes a total of a minute-and-a-half to register," Melnyk said. "Then the most important thing beyond the registration is to have the individual telling someone, 'Hey, these are my wishes; please make sure nobody messes it up.'"

He says the conversation may be uncomfortable, but it's necessary.

"People are a little squeamish. It's not something they want to go through, but they get it," he said. "It hits home."

Looking to the future

The Organ Project will hold its inaugural gala on March 31 at Toronto's Fairmont Royal York hotel, featuring a performance by country star Carrie Underwood — who is married to former Senators player Mike Fisher. Melnyk says the couple "immediately" signed on to help when he called them a few months ago.

He hopes the event will raise between $1-1.5 million for the foundation.

After that, it's full steam ahead for The Organ Project â€” including social media, television and radio campaigns, as well as visits to schools and universities to get the word out about organ donation.

For now, the foundation's focus is getting people to register as an organ donor after death, but in the future Melnyk hopes to include live transplants in the conversation. He also hopes to look into changing legislation, like creating a central donor registry in Canada.

The Organ Project will roll out in Ontario first, then expand to the rest of Canada within about a year.

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