Unionville baseball tournament raises $30K for organ donation charities

Brian Steinman was staying with his twin brother Aaron in Keswick, Ont., last December when tragedy struck. Aaron Steinman and his fiancee found him in the basement. He had just collapsed after suffering a stroke.

The 26-year-old was rushed to hospital, and even after he was put into a medically-induced coma and given numerous tests, doctors delivered the news to Steinman's family that he had died.

But because Steinman was an organ donor, his heart lives on, as do his lungs, kidneys and liver. 

In all, his organs have given six different people another chance at life.

"He would do anything he could to help you," said his brother, adding that Steinman always put others before himself.

"The world lost somebody that it needed," Aaron Steinman said

Transplant patients in this country could use a lot more of the kind of generosity Steinman showed. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, nearly 4,000 people were awaiting organ transplants at the end of last year. The overwhelming majority of Canadians support organ donation, but less than a quarter are actually registered as donors.

Steinman's mother Cindy says he turned down high-paying jobs because he wanted to make a difference in his community.

Steinman chose to work at Hockey Helps the Homeless — a charity championing the underprivileged and raising money to combat homelessness in communities across Canada — where he was hired by director of operations Matt DiPasquale.

"He needed to make sure that friends, family, colleagues… that everyone was settled and then he could focus on himself," said DiPasquale, who became a good friend of Steinman's over the years they worked together.

"He gave so much to other people."

DiPasquale says Hockey Helps the