With a tweet, Justin Bieber came to the aid of a woman who needs a lung transplant.
MATT SAYLES/AP
There are many people, usually those over 30, who find crooner Justin Bieber a little too goody two-shoes for their taste. Helen Campbell, however, at 20, is the right age to admire Bieber and hope he’ll help her find an organ donor for the lung transplant she needs.
She asked friends to help raise awareness about organ and tissue donation and wanted to elicit Bieber’s support for her effort to sign people to donation registries. Through a tweet, Bieber magically appeared to aid Campbell’s cause, assuring older cynics he isn’t just a pretty face.
As soon as Bieber heard of Campbell’s dilemma he tweeted: “@alungstory I got the word . . . You have amazing strength. I got u. #BeAnOrganDonor.” His tweet reached his 16.5 million followers. Organizers at the Trillium Gift of Life Network, the provincial agency coordinating organ and tissue transplants, say that after Bieber tweeted in Campbell’s cause, their website was swamped with responses.
“We were just amazed,” said Ronnie Gavsie, CEO of Trillium. Since Thursday, after Bieber raised his voice in support of Campbell, Trillium received 1,200 registrations. Normally it gets 50 a day.
Campbell has idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and is able to use only 24 per cent of her lung capacity. Bieber’s support may help not only her but others who need organ transplants. As he sings in “Pray”: “I pray for all the ones not breathing, I pray for all the souls I need, I pray, can you give ’em one today?”
Bieber is not one to mumble a few catchy lyrics with the sole intent to make girls faint. He’s a standup guy, ready to use his fame for others. Bravo Bieber.
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