Strangers are meeting in Saskatoon this weekend, more than a year after a tragic event changed their lives forever.
One night, in February 2016, 23-year-old Leanne Germain, died of complications from taking the drug ecstasy. Doctors saved the Winnipeg womanâs heart, pancreas, liver and lungs.
Meanwhile, shortly after the death, a young mother living 800 kilometres away in Saskatchewan found out she would get a life-saving lung transplant. Saskatoonâs Jillian Langen, 28, had been suffering from cystic fibrosis which had destroyed her own lungs but Germainâs lungs would soon be hers.
Leanneâs twin sister, Laura Germain, didnât initially know who had received Leanneâs lungs. But the women eventually connected through an anonymous letter facilitated by Manitoba Transplant and found out more about each other through news reports.
Langen says it was ânerve-wrackingâ to open the first letter from Germain. âYou have so many questions and there it is all laid out for you,â she said.
Langen learned that Leanne had shared some of her interests, including makeup, jewellery and âpretty things.â
Germain learned that her sisterâs lungs had been almost a perfect match for Langen, who described them as being âas close as one could get without actually being a twin.â
Germain also learned that her sisterâs organ donation had not only saved a life, but saved a little boy from losing his mother. That would have pleased Leanne, according to Laura.
âI think sheâd be happy to know that somehow in the terrible situation that weâve all been in, something good has happened,â she said.
Before of the meeting, Germain said she was looking forward to hugging Langen.
âAs crazy as this sounds,â she said, âI just want to see her breathe.â
Linda Kyrsyk, the Germain twinsâ mother, said she was also looking forward to meeting the stranger who received her daughterâs lungs.
Kyrsyk said it felt almost like they were about to meet âbrand new family.â
The two families are expected to meet on Saturday for the first time.
With a report from CTV Winnipegâs Sarah Plowman