00:18:27.780yeah that's right so how long a drive to sudbury like what's it about six hours
00:18:33.620yeah about that between five and six depending on traffic and you're it's november i think you
00:18:40.620went up there so not great conditions i'm sure yeah and you you saved you saved some people
00:18:47.340along the way was that on that that drive yeah well it almost took me out because uh
00:18:54.520there's a lot of moose you know northern ontario right and uh yeah yeah i really if there wasn't a
00:19:01.320car in front of me i probably would have driven right into the moose because it came up fast
00:19:05.220i saw the taillights fishtail ahead of me and that kind of gave me the warning to slow down
00:19:09.960something was on the road and uh even with me slowing down i probably dropped down to about
00:19:14.68075 80 kilometers an hour and uh i still had to swerve really fast and i just i nicked the edge
00:19:20.760of it so yeah it was close that's crazy i mean it's it's funny you get there after all that
00:19:28.000you know the six hours in the car the moose the the pulling people out of cars and all of that
00:19:33.200and that wasn't even the biggest moment of your night no
00:19:37.860for everybody else that's like wow man that's like one of the biggest moments of my life
00:19:45.760you went to go see your brother why did you go that particular day was it just something told
00:19:52.720you that you that you needed to i i really was just trying to get up there as soon as possible
00:19:58.560so um you know that was literally the soonest i could get up there so i just got in the got in
00:20:05.720the truck and left i didn't even really bring much with me because uh i i knew you know devon
00:20:11.480and i could share clothes or whatever so i just i just went as soon as i could
00:20:16.040i want to hear from each of you and i'm going to ask you some of the same questions we uh
00:20:23.020i asked in bows as you're because i think it's important for the people watching to hear
00:20:27.360and many of them weren't there um the closeness of your family first of all tell us about your
00:20:35.300family uh the harper family it's a large blended family right yeah megan do you have the family
00:20:41.460tree there but no i don't well she's added a few more with garnet but um the original family like
00:20:48.340our aunt and uncle adopted uh five harper siblings and they already had four daughters
00:20:53.060and adopted three more siblings and then um our biological mom was remarried and had a couple more
00:20:58.500so yeah family of uh of 14 kids you know 13 siblings so um gal garnett and i being uh about
00:21:08.900two years apart each um you know garnett would be turning 37 this year i'm 39 and y'all 33 i'll be
00:21:19.22035 on the 7th yeah in terms of like uh connected it was gal garnett and i um we're the boys and
00:21:31.780we kind of like stuck together through uh thick and thin and there was definitely uh moments that
00:21:36.900tested our um our bond and um you know we continue to carry those you know through to today so like
00:21:42.900to be able to capture that moment gal and i both have plenty of footage it's just a matter of like
00:21:48.180you know i didn't share it with him yet it was taken up it was on my it was on my phone and
00:21:53.140anyway i'm trying to i'm trying to transfer a few files but um he's like you got to send me that
00:21:57.300clip and i was like yes i do it's a duty because um it's such a gift and to be able to replay
00:22:02.900moments like that um it's it's just um i can't say enough folks just being able to capture those
00:22:10.900moments is just to be there and um we're tight the algar and i are tight just everything together
00:22:19.540how much are you guys still hurting from all of this megan i'm going to start with you
00:22:25.860um there i mean there's not a day that goes by that either i don't see him somewhere or um think
00:22:32.260of how he's missing in our day-to-day um so it's you can't put words on that kind of thing i mean
00:22:41.640i've heard people say that losing a spouse is probably amongst the hardest things to people
00:22:48.640to lose in your life because really it just shatters everything it changes how you do
00:22:53.900every single little action in your life because there's a void now that's that's existing so i
00:23:00.400the way that i work the way that my kids are cared for the way that my finances work the way that i
00:23:05.360cook meals the way that i do laundry housework like you name it i have to train my my dog is
00:23:09.920now my responsibility to train when it was supposed to be his right like all these different things
00:23:13.440that um it it it just becomes this void and so you know you you have to learn to live with it
00:23:20.400over time um and that's that's what we've tried to do kind of moving forward and you know we're
00:23:26.880we're about a year and a half, you know, we're a year and two months now past the time when he
00:23:32.780passed away. So, um, it's been a long road and, you know, some days are harder than others, but,
00:23:38.420um, you know, we're managing. So it's the injustice of it. I mean, if it was something
00:23:44.920that could not be stopped, right. Um, if the doctors came out and said we did everything we
00:23:52.340could do and you could probably resign yourselves to that i think most people could it's not easy
00:24:00.380it's never easy but when something like this happens it's crazy um before we get into that
00:24:07.140story i want to ask you guys gal and devon when he left when when garnett died what did you lose
00:24:15.020I mean, who was Garnet to you? Let's start with you, Gal.
00:24:23.040Garnet was, he still is everything to me.
00:24:28.660I mean, I was the youngest of those 13 siblings that Devon mentioned,
00:24:33.860and Garnet was the one closest in age to me.
00:24:37.160And when I went to live with our aunt and uncle, I was only a year and a half.
00:24:42.760Garnet was three and a half, and being the youngest in a house that busy, you know, you don't always get adult attention as often as maybe someone in an only child household might.
00:24:55.660So I really looked to Garnet as my guide on how to survive, not just in the house, but just in life in general.
00:25:04.200He was, it may sound strange to some, but Garnet really was like a father figure to me growing up.
00:25:10.580And even as an adult, I always looked to him for guidance.
00:33:19.040And so he doesn't, he continues to not really understand, but he still asks me almost every day, you know, where his dad is and everything.
00:33:28.880Like, you know, I keep on repeating the same line, you know, daddy lives in the sky now and he died.
00:33:34.840And so he's starting to sort of understand the idea that he's gone and he's not coming back.
00:33:40.080But I mean, those are really painful conversations to have.
00:33:42.360I mean, there was a there was a moment I remember when it was just a couple of days after Garnett had died and my kids were at my in-laws place spending the day while Devon and I went to the funeral home to start to make some arrangements.
00:33:56.940And we pulled in the driveway in my van with Devon in the front seat and Judah, my son, watched us pull in the driveway and got really excited because he thought it was his dad in the front seat.
00:34:36.960You have got support from so many people across the country, and that's one thing.
00:34:44.240And I totally understand how it is to wake up to dozens of emails or messages, even snail mail in some cases.
00:34:54.780But when it comes to the family, that's a whole different thing.
00:34:59.020Has the family rallied, your friends, everybody has been there and tried to fill those gaps?
00:35:04.520yeah you know what yes and so and that that is something that has been a theme of the last year
00:35:12.040and a bit for me um two years even while garnet was sick which is that family is those who show
00:35:18.820up and show up consistently and it's not defined by blood because we have an amazing family of
00:35:25.420really close friends um yes there's biological family in there also but um the people that i
00:35:31.300count as our family are the people who were here day in and day out and they have taken care of us
00:35:36.620and still do i mean friday mornings i have the same lady who comes to watch my kids she's been
00:35:42.220coming to watch my kids since garnet started dialysis two years ago and she still comes
00:35:46.200every single friday morning and so like these are the people who are literally have been my backbone
00:35:51.460over the last year and they have not given up they have been here for me you know they
00:35:56.840cooked meals they did my laundry they cleaned my house um they did so much for me when um everything
00:36:03.020first happened and all of that support has continued people still checking on me and i'm
00:36:07.420so thankful for that um it was honestly shadow this is something that garnet was he was going
00:36:13.840to turn it into essentially his like life's work which was to gather people together circle wagons
00:36:20.260and build a community and he had started an uh you know a group called all for independence and
00:36:25.860His vision was to have this go nationwide where everybody would have in their city, their freedom community or their community of like-minded people who would be there to support each other in case we needed it in an emergency, but also whenever everybody needed each other.
00:36:40.200so he was looking to try to gather like-minded people together to build this kind of family
00:36:45.900structure and it's so strange how the universe works like this but it ended up being my family
00:36:54.080that ultimately benefited from it in his absence because it was the group of people that he started
00:36:59.900together together only months before he died that were the ones who showed up and really got me
00:37:04.520through that year garnet recognized what was going on with this whole thing before most other people
00:37:12.000am i right yeah 100 uh gal you've got a great story about that yeah so um i assume you're
00:37:23.660alluding to the the blm stuff yep yes i am so yeah and and that in itself too like there's so many
00:37:34.140parts of the story that we tell in in short pieces but like really everything is like a two-hour
00:37:40.560story um obviously okay so listen i mean if when you tell it a story i mean feel free the three of
00:37:46.480you because you guys are connected together mentally and spiritually you know you finish
00:37:51.580each other's sentences what i noticed uh that night in boziger so if one of you forgets part
00:37:57.580of a story or if you want to add something just feel free go ahead do it because i because like
00:38:02.020Megan, you're telling the story about people providing and, like, yes, we have to say that.
00:38:05.760But, like, one example, I'm on the phone, like, getting help from a friend, Amy.
00:38:11.300She's getting toys together so the kids can play at the memorial and have a bouncy house.
00:38:15.980Someone else is pulling up the driveway to drop off food so we don't have to cook that night for the whole family to eat more than enough, okay, in the fridge that our cousin gave us that we put in the carport.
00:38:27.900and meanwhile the uh who's a friend that cuts tony tony's coming to cut the lawn like he said
00:38:34.400his business to cut our lawn for us so i don't have to bother cutting the lawn or whoever so
00:38:38.760like those are like moments in time like it crushed me like the generosity of people was like
00:38:43.880it was crushing and um like garnett yes in the loss gave us so much in terms of people
00:38:50.700relationships and the community that he was like all for right so just sorry to add that
00:38:56.660no no that's that's cool that's that's exactly what i'm kind of hoping for i mean moments like
00:39:00.740that you just kind of sit back and go oh my god like you you almost feel bad right it's people
00:39:07.540doing all these things you didn't ask them to do but they're just taking it upon themselves
00:39:11.140so gal was big into the blm this was around the george floyd time right so this was
00:39:16.740that summer um when all of the riots were happening and please continue yeah so um i had
00:39:25.860always been uh like growing up in in sudbury northern ontario we did grow up with uh racial
00:39:32.020discrimination and racism and something that impacted partner and i at the bond um as kids
00:39:37.940and um you know i actually remember it was uh trayvon martin in 2000 2010 i think it was
00:39:47.940was a long time ago 2012 i think it was but anyway yeah i know what you know the first moment that
00:39:54.840got me um you know it really struck home especially since i was garnett and i were a similar age at
00:40:00.260the time and we had um experiences so that kind of like resonated with me and then when the george
00:40:05.860lloyd thing happened um i was instantly you know drawn into the the black lives matter movement
00:40:12.480because i had the emotions are hard it played it plays on your trauma right and uh so i i got
00:40:20.340involved with an activist group here it wasn't uh part of the black lives matter organization but it
00:40:25.820was black lives matter london anyways um at that time um garnett was kind of like like he was
00:40:33.840warning me like well black lives matter are you aware about this with planned parenthood and this
00:40:39.200and he starts telling me all these things about Black Lives Matter
00:52:49.740And one of the lead activists for BLM went on this rant on Facebook about, you know, if you vote for PPC and you're black, you don't, you, something about, you know, you can't say that you care about your own people and this and that, basically you're a sellout and stuff, right?
00:53:07.760And so all I said was, of all the political parties, which one discriminates the most, right?
00:53:13.140And that right there, that challenge, that was enough to get me kicked out.
00:53:17.060I mean, not to mention Ariel Kayabaga, the liberal MP.
00:53:21.560She was a city councillor in London when I was with BLM.
00:53:26.840But then as soon as the vaccine stuff started coming out, I tried talking to her and being like, hey, look, like they're trying to do this vaccine clinic for the black community.
00:53:33.380And like this thing's not approved and this and that.
00:53:35.840And she just said to me, I think it's great that they're doing this clinic.
00:53:39.580My son got vaccinated and I think it's the best thing ever.
00:53:42.440And I'm like, OK, well, there goes all that.
00:53:45.380hope you know i mean she was running as a liberal so you kind of can't expect much but um yeah there
00:53:52.120was stuff about funding being pulled from uh city funding that we were supposed to get for programs
00:53:57.300because there was all these initiatives during the height of blm right we're going to give money to
00:54:01.660the black community to hear their voices and this and that right um and so i was supposed to be doing
00:54:06.780this show and getting funding through the black london network to do that and i was going to do
00:54:11.160a podcast where i sit down with doctors or whoever and have interviews right and then uh ariel kayabaga
00:54:17.120actually messaged another one of the activists and said hey y'all speaking about vaccines a lot
00:54:22.820and like i'm just saying i'm i'm just warning you like you know if he keeps with that covid uh
00:54:28.320vaccine narrative like the funding might get pulled kind of thing or i'm worried that it
00:54:31.800might get pulled right so i was basically told like okay quiet down or the money's gonna go in
00:54:36.260I was like, well, idiot, right? Yeah, that's one of the big. So what you're saying then is that
00:54:46.780public funding for BLM or whatever was tied to your vaccine philosophy. Isn't that interesting?
00:54:56.440Yeah, that's something we've been saying for the past four years now. It's political. It has
00:55:00.220nothing at all to do with making you better, protecting you from any kind of virus. This
00:55:06.280is all political. At the time that you were going through all of this, Megan, back up
00:55:13.220to you. Garnett was starting to do rallies, right? Like right from the beginning. See,
00:55:20.040he'd been doing rallies on weekends. And I remember asking you this question. Your answer
00:55:24.280was pretty funny. He said when he first started doing the rallies, like were you eye rolling?
00:55:29.200Were you with him all together, or did you completely understand what he was even doing yet?
00:55:36.600I was supportive of him all the way along.
00:55:40.140I was not an activist person, per se, before COVID.
00:55:46.060Like, you know, when I went to my first rally in 2021, it was a very uncomfortable experience for me, just personally, because that's just not something that I had ever participated in before.
00:55:55.920um but that was the first time that we sort of discovered that there was more people like us in
00:56:02.360our city and from there it's just when things just started to take off i mean i think at that
00:56:07.040first rally garnet grabbed a megaphone and just started talking unscripted in the microphone and
00:56:12.760just hyping up the crowd like he does and people were like who is this guy where did he come from
00:56:17.220you know it's a crowd of 150 people and uh it was just from there people just sort of started to be
00:56:23.920drawn to him and he had he was a very magnetic person he had a very um charismatic personality
00:56:29.000and just always attracted people wherever he went um he was very good at oration he could just get
00:56:35.880up in front of a crowd unscripted like someone hand me a mic and i'll just be well spoken like
00:56:40.380that was garnet but then at the same time he was also very caring and loved to talk to people one
00:56:46.640on one and he remembered faces and names and i just still am boggled by how he did that but he
00:56:51.900was also very personable like to the individual right so uh he was a very unique person like that
00:56:57.980and so he was really amazing at gathering people together um bringing our city together and he
00:57:04.000coordinated a lot of really important events in our city we went to um we went to the local science
00:57:10.820center when they shut out people with paid memberships and told them they weren't allowed
00:57:15.140to go into the science center if they weren't vaccinated we went to um there was a rally at
00:57:20.000my place of work which was one that i was less than impressed about because uh there was some
00:57:25.560volatile situations happening there at the time for me um so that was what kind of what kind of
00:57:31.400volatile situations were people just looking at you the wrong way or i didn't actually defend that
00:57:36.420one shadow that was that one was one that i stayed home for um as conflict of interest because of
00:57:43.340details that I probably may not be able to share here, but, um, I was working at the university
00:57:49.900in Sudbury and I was not allowed to continue working, um, there because I didn't submit my
00:57:56.160proof of vaccination. Um, so there was a whole, I was in fights with, with my HR and union at the
00:58:03.640time. And, uh, so anyways, that happened and there was, it caused some grief for me in the background,
00:58:08.940But it, you know, ended up happening at the end. So everything was fine. But it was as soon as that was a stressful one for me.
00:58:15.400So but he did he he rallied there and he brought people there because they were not allowing students to attend university in person and go into the classroom if they didn't submit their vaccination papers.
00:58:24.880So it was a it was a really wild time across the province and I think across the country for education, post-secondary education.
00:58:33.120So that was that was one. Still is. There's still a lot of universities, believe it or not, that actually require you to be vaccinated.
01:07:47.660Started feeling absolutely terrible and decided to get a second opinion.
01:07:51.780And so he went to a naturopath at that point, which is ultimately the route that he would have preferred to go all the way along because he had a distrust of the medical system, I think, from the beginning.
01:08:00.700But ultimately went to the naturopath.
01:08:03.520The naturopath did what his doctor should have done, which is order a full panel of blood work to see what else is going on in his body.
01:08:10.360And that revealed that he had kidneys that were failing.
01:08:41.200And without taking a panel or finding out exactly what it was doing, he was beside himself at that point.
01:08:48.340right anyway please continue and his doctor ended up calling him two days later and said to him you
01:08:54.940need to stop taking that medication that we just doubled because it's hurting you this essentially
01:08:58.600was a direct quote from the doctor so i mean he finally clued in after he finally got the labs
01:09:02.880that he didn't order um that the medication he prescribed was a mistake so anyways take from that
01:09:09.340what you will but we got that diagnosis then it was stage five kidney disease which is the worst
01:09:13.620So as soon as you hit stage five, which is below 15% function, you have to start dialysis and or join a transplant list in order to, you know, get your condition resolved.
01:09:26.320So what we did is we referred to a nephrologist because, of course, like this is a really serious condition.
01:09:31.940So we made sure that we followed with the medical advice.
01:13:02.260They said he was not obligated to perform the surgery if he chose not to,
01:13:07.080and that there was no other radiologist on the floor who was able to perform it.
01:13:11.040So they said we needed to go home until they were able to find another doctor who would perform the surgery.
01:13:16.120Now, I remember turning to Dr. Trotsy when the first time we had this conversation and I said, Doc, 2%? He goes, yeah, that's pretty much the kidney's dead. And this could be bad at any given time. Like he could die at any given time with 2% kidney function. And yet this doctor turns around and says, we're not doing this today. And the administration backs him up.
01:13:39.700I can't even believe that these people are not up on charges yet.
01:14:09.700into emergency um we went to the triage nurse who we told the whole story to um she took his
01:14:16.760blood pressure took one look at where his blood pressure levels were and said okay i'm going to
01:14:20.460be right back i'm going to go talk to the doctor um on the emergency room floor and so she ended up
01:14:26.960getting us into the red wing which is where the really critical cases are that's where you see
01:14:31.000people who have just been in a car accident who are losing blood who have been you know on a drug
01:14:35.500overdose they're convulsing on their stretchers like it's like serious business you know so they
01:14:40.280put us in a room in that wing and the doctor kind of came in and was like one of these things is not
01:14:45.780like the other like what is this couple doing in my wing they don't look like they're dying you
01:14:49.800know but so he's like what's going on guys and so we told him the whole story we told him what
01:14:55.380happened upstairs with his colleague and how we were denied surgery over a mask he shook his head
01:15:01.380in very clear frustration and said, I'm going to go make some phone calls and I will be right back.
01:15:08.440So he left about 20 minutes later, came back and said, okay, I called dialysis and I called
01:15:13.580radiology floor and they are going to get you your surgery as soon as they can get their shit
01:15:18.340together upstairs is what he said. So he basically yelled at them for sending us to his area or
01:15:25.300allowing us to get to that point and said, why are you not doing your job? You need to perform
01:15:30.240surgery this man is not doing well um and so ultimately that's what happened is we were sent
01:15:34.960right back upstairs to the exact same doctor it was like deja vu um except for this time the doctor
01:15:41.120was told that he had been required to perform the surgery that he didn't want to perform
01:15:46.160do we know who talked to this doctor was it just a conversation between the er doc and this
01:15:52.320radiologist do you know what was said in this conversation or no i don't have that they didn't
01:15:58.960they did not add that to the file i have a copy of garnet's medical record but that's not in there
01:16:04.000interesting so yeah like i'd like to know exactly what happened i i want to know i mean that's a
01:16:11.280pretty important part of this story how they convinced this radiologist to a radiologist
01:16:16.880who initially refused based upon garnet not wearing a mask to all of a sudden decide oh
01:16:22.480i got to come out and do this so what happens after that he came out and he did the procedure
01:16:27.600he did the procedure um the procedure was they told me everything went very very well is what
01:16:34.860they told me when they exited the OR um but over time and it was only a couple of hours where we
01:16:41.140realized it didn't actually go very very well because they had packed his wound full of like
01:16:46.740bandages and it was so the blood was just soaking through the bandages so we were brought upstairs
01:16:52.880dialysis to do a treatment right away um but during the treatment he started like dripping
01:16:58.160blood through his shirt and they were like whoa like the nurses in dialysis said to them
01:17:02.640said to us and themselves like we've never seen someone lose that much blood through a central
01:17:07.040line um insertion so they changed the the bandages right there and then they sent us home
01:17:14.000and said if it starts to like you know bleed through again tonight you can change the bandage
01:17:18.480yourself, which they're not supposed to do with an open wound like that, that's connected to your
01:17:23.140heart. Um, so anyways, the, they sent us home. We didn't actually take the bandage off cause I
01:17:28.660didn't feel comfortable. We just added more gauze on top. Um, but he still was losing a lot of blood
01:17:34.380and he was already anemic and it was just, anyways, you could tell that it was a botched surgery job.
01:17:39.040Um, but within 48 hours of the surgery is when he started to get really serious fevers. He was
01:17:45.900having chills he was like shaking um and showing signs of infection so we at dialysis that when we
01:17:53.780were there the next time he said i don't think he's doing very well like he's got a high fever
01:17:57.940and he's been shaking and stuff and it's just not good and so the nurse actually said you know what
01:18:03.420i think we should take a blood culture to see if there's an infection in its blood um so when you
01:18:09.180take a blood culture you have to take a substantial amount of blood it's a really big vial and so they
01:18:13.720they did this test she didn't check it with the doctor first because she was like well this is a
01:18:19.080very clear and sign sign that this is what's happening i need to take this test the doctor
01:18:23.400comes in his specialist and he's like i'm really mad at your nurse for taking that test you're
01:18:27.260already really anemic we can't take that much blood from you so i'm anyways i'm really frustrated
01:18:30.920that she took those blood cultures he just sort of like ranted to us in the room anyways lo and
01:18:36.040behold comes back and the blood culture is positive for a staph infection and if that nurse had not
01:18:41.640gone basically against the doctor's orders and taken this culture then who knows what could
01:18:47.640have happened because if you don't catch that kind of infection fast enough then you know you're
01:18:52.180you're cooked basically right like that's a really serious infection to have in your blood
01:18:55.680so they started him on antibiotics it was a iv antibiotic which was a really really strong one
01:19:02.760to try to get ahead of the staph infection that they found in his blood megan when was all this
01:19:09.200happening was this was this around the same time gal you came for a visit like was it around then
01:19:14.820this is still late september when this is all starting so this is like towards the end of the
01:19:19.020month of september um but the i mean it it's what so the video that you saw at the beginning of the
01:19:25.300show that was beginning of november like early november so it was only about a month and maybe
01:19:31.440a month and a half uh and that's being generous from the time that the surgery happened so i mean
01:19:37.080his health just declined really fast so the the staph infection caused a lot of extra issues for
01:19:43.760him he like you said like we said earlier and you saw in the video he had um back spasms he was in
01:19:50.600constant pain he wasn't sleeping he you could hear him say i can't breathe in the video because he
01:19:55.340was dealing with what we found out later was a collapsed lung because the infection got into
01:19:59.760lungs it got into his spinal column it got into his heart ate away at his heart valves he had
01:20:04.600How much fluid did they drain out of his lung?
01:20:08.180You mentioned before, was it four liters?
01:20:10.580Four and a half, four and a half liters, yeah.
01:20:13.320And they actually, they wouldn't have caught that
01:20:15.720if Megan and Garnett hadn't insisted that they get a chest x-ray.
01:20:19.260They actually refused to give him a chest x-ray a couple of times.
01:20:22.440They told us it was normal that he couldn't breathe
01:20:24.540because he was a dialysis patient and he had too much water in his system.
01:20:27.900So they just needed to be more aggressive with the fluid pull at dialysis.
01:20:31.700but they so they basically were like well we don't need to do a chest x-ray we already know
01:20:36.500what's happening um but then when they did finally we pushed them to do a chest x-ray
01:20:40.880that's when they diagnosed oh wow look your lung is collapsed he was often thirsty as well
01:20:46.080really wanted to have something like to satisfy his thirst so he can't breathe he's thirsty
01:20:52.300you know just just to add to the stress on the body right over a long period of time
01:20:57.700um not a lot of people can go through it especially with the uh the character of a man like
01:21:03.940that so it's still it like his his health was going down quickly did you notice during this
01:21:12.340time because it sounds like there were certain medical people who wanted to do their jobs and
01:21:20.040then it sounds like there were other people who were basing everything they did around
01:21:25.060covid restrictions yeah and i guess at that point in the situation that you guys were in
01:21:31.620you could spot that pretty quickly right oh yeah that kind of person yeah sudbury didn't doesn't
01:21:39.160have a lot of people who um were in the second camp everybody was very much like this is the
01:21:45.360covid regulation and this is what we're doing i didn't find a lot of people in our city um in the
01:21:50.640medical field who you know wanted to have a real conversation about what was really going on
01:21:56.280everybody it sounded like that er doc though i mean that er doc when you know he's he's a wait
01:22:01.860a minute what are you doing you can't just walk away from this guy because he's not wearing a
01:22:05.020mask so that guy sounded to me like he probably wanted to do real doctor stuff right and that
01:22:13.200nurse who who took the uh the test obviously probably wanted to do medical work as well0.96
01:22:21.580not just base her whole existence on covet 19 regulations right so gal you go to to see garnet
01:22:31.740had you had you seen him in a while had it been a couple of months or yeah it had it had been i
01:22:39.820think since the summer i saw him in the summer last uh probably in july or early august so when
01:22:46.500i last saw him uh he was still he had a an auto detailing business and uh at the time he insisted
01:22:54.060every time i came he insisted on cleaning my truck for me right and uh at this time he's you know his
01:23:00.900health is it's on the decline and he's like struggling to to do things but he insisted on
01:23:07.460cleaning my truck and i was like darn it's okay don't worry about it you know but attention to
01:23:11.940detail you know this man like he cared right and he wanted to show that he cared and it started
01:23:17.520getting dark and he's running out of time and my truck looked great but it wasn't up to garnet
01:23:22.280standards yet and so he was so frustrated he's like man i'll finish it tomorrow we'll do it i'm
01:23:27.040like it's fine like it looks great thank you it's a work truck anyways you know um but he he was
01:23:32.560that's the type of man he was he wanted if he's gonna do a job he wanted to do it well
01:23:37.040But to touch on the experiences that, you know, Megan and Garnett had at the hospital and connect them back to what I mentioned earlier when Garnett said, you know, racism is an issue, but I feel like the COVID stuff is going to kill me first.
01:23:51.540Right. It's a perfect example because, you know, when he got when he was mistreated in the hospital for not wearing a mask or for not being vaccinated, they could kick him out, send him home, decline surgeries, all these things.
01:24:05.340right because of his mask um not wearing a mask if any of that stuff happened in a hospital today
01:24:11.660and they refused a surgery because he's black like that that doesn't happen right um so like
01:24:19.060the the discrimination that he faced because of the covid measures was it was prevalent right
01:24:24.500there like he talked to me all the time like man like like he'd go he'd go to life lap just to get
01:24:29.340he'd be on video and he'd call us on on video chat while he's there because they're trying to
01:24:34.780refuse him uh service like they're not going to do his blood work and stuff right and uh it's
01:24:39.540because he's not wearing a mask and like he's exempt like legally he's he's following the
01:24:43.520rules right it's it's their rules he's following them and they just don't like it because he's
01:24:49.560doing he's on the other side right he's the bad guy um he's gonna kill grandma so um just just
01:24:56.820watching him um face all that head on even while his health like most people they'd be like oh i'm
01:25:04.760in a wheelchair you know what i i really need this medical care i'm just gonna i'm gonna either show
01:25:09.340my exemption or i'm just gonna put the mask on but it's like no like i know my rights you have
01:25:13.940you have to do this i don't have to show you my exemption and you have to do your job right and so
01:25:19.620the fact that he he was still willing to stand on on his morals and his principles like even
01:25:24.840in that state um it's just incredible incredible strength and resilience so let me ask you guys
01:25:31.480this might be a touchy question but what the hell um danielle smith i think said a couple of years
01:25:38.720ago that she she'd seen the worst discrimination in canada in our lifetimes and it was all about
01:25:46.300not being vaccinated and i want to ask you guys both have you faced worse discrimination
01:25:54.880from being black or not being vaccinated or the stand you've taken regarding covet 19 which has
01:26:01.400been the worst or the most obvious the most hurtful so i'll jump into jump into this first
01:26:08.240um for me i think the reason a lot of people get sensitive when you draw the comparisons
01:26:13.560is because of the root cause of the discrimination, right?
01:26:19.640So if you think about, like, a racist who hates black people, right?
01:26:24.740And, you know, I'm talking about, you know, a straight white supremacist
01:26:28.480that uses the N-word and, like, they just hate black people
01:26:32.820and think that they're subhuman, right?
01:26:34.540When someone is acting with that hate and malice towards you,
01:26:38.880it affects you on a deep level, right?
01:26:40.640um when someone is like this person is not wearing a mask they're going to kill my grandma like i can
01:26:46.320i can empathize with the the thought process although i disagree with it i can empathize with
01:26:50.440like i understand this is a a somewhat rational fear to them right so um the the difference in
01:26:59.300the the reason for the discrimination um obviously racism takes the card on that however
01:27:06.640the frequency with which i experienced discrimination based on covid stuff and the
01:27:13.640power that was behind it right the biggest thing for me was you know i had a teaching job through
01:27:20.740fanshaw college i taught a trades course and i had a contract offer that was rescinded because
01:27:25.960i didn't fill up the vaccine policy i never had a vaccine or um i never had a contract pulled
01:27:31.580because i was black right like the things that they were able to take away from me and able to
01:27:37.440refuse me from refusing me from stores i tried to take my little girl to buy skates they wouldn't
01:27:41.860let me in the store they said they'd bring a chair outside it's middle of winter they said
01:27:45.280they'd bring a chair outside she could try on skates in the parking lot right and nobody in
01:27:49.840there had a problem with it right i'm having one-on-one conversations with people trying to
01:27:54.300appeal to their humanity and be like you want my six-year-old daughter to sit out here in the snow
01:27:59.040and put skates on while everyone else is in the store?
01:28:27.560and everyone's on my side right yeah if you're not wearing a mask and people are trying to kick
01:28:33.100you out of the store everyone's on that team they all want you out of the store right and you
01:28:37.100probably won't be allowed in so absolutely i would say that the discrimination that i faced
01:28:42.020in my lifetime a hundred times worse when it comes to not being vaccinated and not wearing a mask
01:28:47.660for sure what about you devon um and if you don't want to talk about it that's all right too man
01:28:55.080No, like I had an issue at Enterprise to be very specific about a time where I was just trying to return a vehicle and I'd been there a week before without a mask.
01:29:04.260And, you know, they rented the vehicle out to me.
01:29:06.480When I came back to return it and go through the paperwork and have the walk around and all that, they wanted me to wait outside as well.
01:29:12.820And I refused to leave the store and they called the RCMP and they showed up and I had a discussion with them.
01:29:18.880and they threatened me to leave the store, you know, like saying like, oh, I don't want to have
01:29:23.740an issue today. So, you know, tough guy. I decided, you know, for the betterment of our conversation
01:29:28.760and I'll go outside and we'll have a chat there. And then, you know, just the treatment in those
01:29:34.560situations. Yeah. Like I was saying, like, it's, it's different when, you know, it's a, it's a
01:29:41.380race thing, but when you're actually like standing up for these freedoms, you're standing up for the
01:29:45.380freedom of the person that is giving you hell right in that moment you're like i'm actually
01:29:50.540fighting for your freedom so that you can choose to not wear that and get that right and so that
01:29:55.480was the nuance that kind of like was loudest to me it was like when garnet's been speaking to all
01:30:00.280these people and they're ragging on him it's like he's actually fighting for your freedom too
01:30:04.400right and his words still stand true to that so um i think there's a whole lot of forgiveness
01:30:10.140that forgiveness that needs to happen in in in all those conversations and people who didn't
01:30:15.180get invited to dinners because they weren't vaccinated actually last night was having a
01:30:18.820conversation um at a local store um one couple i i worked with the uh the husband and he got
01:30:27.000vaccinated his his wife didn't i'll use the word vaccinated um and they still were able to bond
01:30:33.240after the fact that he realized like this vaccine like almost killed me i've been getting sick all
01:30:38.420the time and so that anger and like this pleasure that he's feeling that fire that started to burn
01:30:43.320in him we need that more from the community that like yeah we got duke we got scammed but like
01:30:48.620we gotta be even like more on fire than ever because they actually they're taking us out
01:30:53.820they're literally trying to it's genocide yeah yeah so let's move past gal's visit the surprise
01:31:04.180visit the video we saw at the beginning and get to the part now where, Megan, where we find out
01:31:13.100that he's going to need a transplant. There's no way that any sort of medical, nothing short of a
01:31:20.540transplant is going to save him. Which is the diagnosis you get as soon as you get stage five
01:31:27.660as your diagnosis because your kidneys are no longer functioning. And so your options are
01:31:32.300long-term dialysis or shorter term dialysis while you're waiting for a kidney transplant
01:31:38.100well you guys tried naturopaths too right for a short period of time yes yes correct which
01:31:43.700actually allowed us to maintain his health didn't improve it but it allowed us to maintain his health
01:31:48.200at the level that he was at which was still in kidney failure he would hold up a bottle of uh
01:31:54.920sorry to make it public but a bottle of his urine to show how much progress he'd made like i mean
01:31:59.540it was the small things but like seriously like we're fighting for our life here right
01:32:02.960and like i remember up downstairs because i had been sleeping downstairs at the time and then
01:32:07.860he sends me a pic on whatsapp and it's like a jug full i was like good job man and like
01:32:13.020those were the parts you just can't forget hey look at my piss that's that's funny
01:32:22.620so he the the question was shadow he was uh as far as the transplant is concerned so we're on
01:32:31.000long-term dialysis but even before commencing dialysis we were told you know you will need a
01:32:38.100transplant eventually so let's talk about the protocol and what's required to get a transplant
01:32:43.580done and the first question out of their mouth was well you need to be you need to have two
01:32:48.900covid vaccines um in order to commence this process are you willing to do that or have you
01:32:54.920been vaccinated was the question and uh so i mean the the answer was an emphatic no you know that's
01:33:01.120not something that's ever been required in canada before now so um and and no i'm not comfortable
01:33:07.040with science and you know we give all the reasons that you know an intelligent and reasonable person
01:33:11.380would give i think in that sort of situation um but that was basically enough for the hospital
01:33:16.620to essentially slam the door and say, well, too bad, you know, you're not going to, if you're not
01:33:20.540going to comply with the vaccine mandate, then we cannot proceed or will not proceed with what else
01:33:26.960is required to get you on that transplant list. So we did not receive a place on the transplant
01:33:32.640list. We were not considered to be part of the Trillium program to be an organ recipient. Both
01:33:38.600of these guys on the call here, they were both willing to donate their own kidneys as a living
01:33:43.900related live donor and they even said to us at that point it doesn't matter because if the
01:33:49.860recipient is not vaccinated it doesn't matter where the organ comes from the procedure cannot
01:33:54.380be initiated without the vaccine. So you had at that point I'm assuming you were trying other
01:34:05.600options something that could have gotten around this ridiculous regulation that has never been
01:34:12.360done in canada before what did you do well we we were ready to essentially argue with them we we
01:34:19.820were we are compiling a lot of like you know information as far as like legal um information
01:34:25.800scientific information about these vaccines and why it would be a bad uh choice for him to take
01:34:32.100it as a kidney transplant patient um as a type 1 diabetic as a person with a list of health
01:34:38.080complications because as as most people know these shots were not tested on anybody but the
01:34:44.980healthiest portion of the population so the only people in the control groups for these vaccine
01:34:49.720trials were people who had no health complications whatsoever and well megan i mean like at that time
01:34:54.880we all knew exactly i mean that they'd already done the pfizer dump on on twitter on x so we all
01:35:06.420Well, that's what I'm saying is that they never did trials even on someone with type 1 diabetes.
01:35:11.180They never did trials on someone who is a kidney patient.
01:35:13.420So they just don't know how is this going to impact this person's health if we mandate this for this person who has these preexisting conditions, right?
01:35:21.980Not to mention that it's an autoimmune disease, and that's probably, you know, one of the things that these things attack first.
01:35:28.120Do they make it worse or do they give you a new one?
01:35:59.660i mean the clock is ticking here now at this stage of the game you know that transplant sooner rather
01:36:05.500than later is absolutely required and you're you're fighting with the system was there ever
01:36:13.260one person who was speaking on behalf of the system or was it the frustration that they always
01:36:19.180give you hold please and you'll go to the next department and so on and so on and so on that's
01:36:23.660a lot of that oh that's how this game is played right shadow like is it everybody's passing the
01:36:28.540buck. So if you'll, if you ever get into a fight like this and you're trying to find a person to
01:36:33.880talk to or a person to source the responsibility for this decision, you won't find one because it
01:36:40.420just goes in circles. So what happens is the hospital, the individual hospitals will make a
01:36:46.600transplant policy related to the COVID vaccine. The hospital, excuse me, makes the policy based
01:36:54.380off of public health recommendations. Public health, when you go to them and say, well,
01:36:59.020why are you telling hospitals to recommend the COVID vaccine? You're not doctors or whatever.
01:37:03.300They'll say, oh, well, they're just recommendations. This is not a requirement.
01:37:06.780So then they pass you back to the hospital, right? So it's this whole big circus where you end up not
01:37:12.580having anybody who's taking responsibility for this. And I mean, we all know the reason why
01:37:18.000they're not taking responsibility for this is because I think they all know that this is all
01:37:21.620questionable legality, right? So there's no, not one person who's willing to say, I'm the one who
01:37:27.400signed that policy. I made this decision or whatever the case may be, because that just
01:37:31.660doesn't exist. I, you know, I was going to say, I don't know what your opinion at that time
01:37:38.640of the media was, and I don't think it would have helped you anyway. I mean, now I feel like,
01:37:46.060Matt, if you would have gotten on this show and if you would have gotten on a few other
01:37:49.280independence across the country and just gotten this out at that time it might have made a
01:37:55.500difference it may be i mean if you could get it to the minister of health for the province or
01:38:01.460somebody important somebody who can make noise about this because the same thing was going on
01:38:09.140to a poor lady in in alberta i think right around that time or maybe just before that
01:38:13.940yeah and we're in contact Sheila Lewis and I we chatted quite a bit um did you we did yeah we I
01:38:21.580had her personal contact info and we we talked but I mean what ended up happening with her um is she0.80
01:38:27.640ended up having to fundraise to try to go to the United States to get this done because there was0.99
01:38:31.880not a hospital in Canada who would would take her right and ultimately through litigation she came
01:38:37.400to a settlement um and they were going to I mean this is not confirmed because she couldn't talk
01:38:43.260both or whatever but i mean you can you can put the pieces together they were going to perform
01:38:47.320the surgery in alberta um but then before they could schedule a surgery date is when she passed
01:38:52.600away um so i mean you can take from that what you will like she settled um in court she won she won
01:38:59.440her fight but at the same time they just delayed and delayed and delayed and took too long and put
01:39:05.020the surgery date off and then she was not able to actually get what she needed yeah and so i guess
01:39:09.700the same process you guys could have gone through and tried to wait it out but it's just shameful
01:39:15.180what about the american thing was that ever discussed doing a fundraiser and heading down
01:39:20.700to the states we it was something that we considered doing but i mean he was just so weak
01:39:25.400for such a long time uh and the timeline here was very short i mean his health took a dive just over
01:39:31.400like five weeks and then he was just on an uphill you know battle trying to get out of it and
01:39:37.420ultimately what ended up happening is he started to win his fight like he physically was getting
01:39:41.980stronger he was amazing all of his doctors his lung recovered to an 85 percent inflation rate
01:39:47.400which was something they said he would never have um he you know was checking off all the boxes he
01:39:53.200was winning everything and it was without taking their medicine yeah we were again we were still
01:40:02.960pursuing natural we were working with a homeopath we were working with a naturopath we had we had
01:40:07.400He had Ayurvedic medicine on the go at the same time as doing all of the other allopathic medicines.
01:40:14.000And so, you know, he was really he was regaining his strength so much so that his kidney specialist said,
01:40:19.620we're at the point where I can graduate you to home dialysis because you're getting so much stronger and you're doing so much better.
01:40:26.600So he had had the surgery in his stomach to be able to perform dialysis in a different fashion that was also safer.
01:40:33.920We were everything was was looking up and it was looking amazing.
01:40:37.400which made his death like that much more aggravating, I think,
01:40:43.720and painful when it happened because he ultimately died of complications
01:40:47.820from long-term hemodialysis, which is the one that he had started with
01:40:52.460that, you know, caused him so much harm in the beginning.
01:40:55.740I just want to add, like you did mention that, you know,
01:40:58.800like possibly could have been different if we had a voice, you know,
01:41:03.600sooner than garnet's passing and as garnet was going through his struggles he was often thinking
01:41:09.480of others and who he would pave the way for next and um you know thank you for the opportunity to
01:41:15.580share uh candidly about you know our life and garnet's uh experience and hopefully we can
01:41:21.500stop this from happening again because it is still yeah yeah we can't we can't let this happen again
01:41:26.920this is this is outrageous what happened i mean you guys lost a lot your kids lost a lot megan
01:41:33.160you lost your man um so i'm going to ask you the question i asked you that night on the stage
01:41:42.980because a lot of people are thinking it and i loved your answer by the way when
01:41:49.340when you answered me a couple of weeks ago did you ever ask him to take the vaccine
01:41:57.740i would i would never have done that i couldn't have done that
01:42:03.160Um, it would have destroyed him as a person. It would have been completely against his character.
01:42:09.160So it really honestly was not even a thought in my mind. It was always, we're going to find another
01:42:15.200way because this is all going to blow over is what it, what it felt like. And that's the approach
01:42:20.260that we took the entire way along. And what I had said to you in the original interview was
01:42:25.660if he would have taken that vaccine, it would have destroyed his spirit and he wouldn't have
01:42:29.860garnet anymore and that would have been the biggest tragedy of the entire ordeal and that's
01:42:33.780something that he could not sacrifice what was the rest of the family saying i mean your brothers
01:42:40.260sisters and uncle mom dad what were they saying guys you know i'll just speak on like it's hard
01:42:50.420i don't want to misquote anybody but um you don't need to name names no no but um there were people
01:42:56.340in the area you know where garnet uh like he literally lives like megan lives on the hill
01:43:01.460long lake hill and it's uh it's an artery that connects you know just the bush i guess to like
01:43:08.020long lake area to the city and um for him to see like people coming and going um our parents stopped
01:43:14.660in quite often at knuckle um you know just to just to be there be a presence um and there was mixed
01:43:24.740there's mixed feelings i guess um from the medical direction i guess like garnet you
01:43:29.940know if you kind of if you listen maybe things would be better for you um not a direct quote
01:43:36.420but i think my my dad would have recommended that garnet kind of follow the uh follow a little more
01:43:43.140direction from the you know health sciences north like guys direct me if i'm if you think otherwise
01:43:48.900Well, I didn't have the conversation that you had, but I think it's important to note here that Dr. Mark Trossi pointed out that given Garnett's status of a type 1 diabetic, it would have been catastrophic for him to take the vaccine.
01:44:06.600He's the absolute worst candidate to be taking the COVID injections.
01:44:11.780So Garnett was right about that, regardless of what anyone in the family was saying.
01:44:16.440but uh yeah as far as as far as people on the team there was right like there was like maybe
01:44:22.500garnet should like stay at the hospital get the complete treatment there maybe not get vaccinated
01:44:27.540but be there in their care you know long term like you know well that's what but that's that
01:44:32.900dad did give that that advice devon and i had correct him a lot of times and say listen we
01:44:37.960are complying with everything the doctor is telling us to do right there's not there's not
01:44:41.740anything that we did with his kidney treatment that was against protocol or against doctor's
01:44:45.860advice except for we chose not to get the vaccine yeah um everybody in the family knew that garner
01:44:51.780wasn't going to get the vaccine everybody knew that it wasn't like oh let's convince going like
01:44:56.340there was none of that there was none of that yeah so
01:45:02.980when he died you guys say he was on the upswing right like it looked like he was fighting back
01:45:08.340maybe and he'd have a little bit more time was there a specific event that led up to
01:45:14.740to his passing or did it just kind of happen did you guys sense it was coming yeah well he ended
01:45:22.360having this sort of there was a puzzlement as far as why he was getting migraines during his
01:45:27.700dialysis session for about a month prior he was complaining about it we told the doctors about it
01:45:34.740we were trying to get them to say like, you know, is there anything in the chemistry of blood that
01:45:38.760could be causing this because it's triggered by dialysis? Literally he cannot finish his dialysis
01:45:43.380session because his migraine gets to be so bad. And they, crickets, they had no answers for us.
01:45:50.060It's like they had never seen it before. They were confused, you know, just they, but they also
01:45:54.100didn't run any tests or actually try to figure this out. So it was one of those maddening things
01:45:58.620where it's like, he's having these migraines. There's something going on that's causal between
01:46:02.180dialysis and something in his head. But they had zero answers. And so that was a frustrating
01:46:09.820component, but that was going on in the background. And then ultimately he had a, during dialysis one
01:46:18.620time because of this migraine and also a combination of migraine and a low blood sugar
01:46:22.680incident, he had a stroke-like episode where he literally, his face froze, his mouth couldn't
01:46:29.480make words. You could see the panic in his eyes, but he couldn't do anything about it.
01:46:33.820It was extremely scary. We went on to emerge that day and they did all the scans and everything,
01:46:39.000but they all came back clear and negative and there was nothing there.
01:46:43.300So we were dismissed from the hospital. Again, no answers to that incident. And then it was only
01:46:48.660six weeks after that, that he died at home. Well, he didn't die at home. He had a stroke at home
01:46:54.400in the middle of the night and i was woken up to the sound of him falling and um had to call
01:46:59.580the paramedics because he was having a low blood sugar and i couldn't get him to take his juice box
01:47:04.000um and it was really serious so i thought he was going into a diabetic coma but ultimately it was
01:47:10.020it was um diagnosed as a as a stroke when he got to the hospital
01:47:14.080do you guys know if he knew that the end was coming did you have that conversation with him
01:47:21.920any of you so um when garnet was uh when he was fighting off the staph infection and uh like
01:47:31.180actually that trip in november from the video um i remember talking to garnet um well actually the
01:47:38.620three of us garnet devon and i were all sitting in chairs uh under the carport talking and uh at
01:47:45.900at one point we kind of we stopped talking and sat there in silence which almost never happened
01:47:54.140in our history being brothers together and we all just kind of started crying and without
01:48:03.060anyone saying it it really just felt like you know this could be the last time we all sit here
01:48:10.300together and uh that was that was a difficult time but we we fought through that and uh you
01:48:21.100know garnet we saw garnet recovering and so that whole thought of garnet leaving that left our
01:48:28.020minds and uh you know knowing garnet my whole life is like he's a fighter he's invincible he'll make
01:48:34.540through everything and you know i had no doubt that he was going to beat it and um the night
01:48:40.600before he passed he was i was i was there because i came up to visit for the maylong weekend
01:48:46.200and uh the friday night um he's giving me a tour of the house he's rearranged furniture he's
01:48:53.600showing me his office where uh sorry his study where he's going to be doing his lives from where
01:48:58.320he kind of fires up the people brings people together right he was wanting to get back into
01:49:02.540his activism work because he was feeling good he was um he was able to walk up and down the stairs
01:49:07.380right which was huge because last time I saw him I was helping him in and out of his wheelchair
01:49:11.460and uh you know he's walking up the stairs at one point after showing me the basement
01:49:16.100um and I of course went to go help him and he's like no no I got it I got it and I was like okay
01:49:21.160so he's walking up and I'm you know kind of walking carefully behind him in case he falls but
01:49:25.800I was surprised at how well he was going up and about halfway up the stairs he he stops and he
01:49:31.040looks back at me and he's like, you like that shit? Um, so he's very optimistic. Um, and yeah,
01:49:38.260it definitely didn't, there was no ominous vibes around. It was, you know, he's, he's going to beat
01:49:44.720it. Um, so I, uh, I don't, I don't usually sleep with my phone on silent, but I was at my parents
01:49:52.220place and the kids were sharing a bed with me. So, um, I, I woke up cause someone had called,
01:49:59.740um sister emmy had called my wife's phone and uh said that i i need to check my phone because
01:50:06.700megan was trying to call me and so i saw the 20 missed calls or whatever it was and uh my heart
01:50:12.860dropped and um my sister told holly that i had to get to the hospital because garnet had a stroke
01:50:20.380yeah so i i got in the truck and uh i flew to the hospital and megan called me or i think i tried
01:50:30.180calling her when i was on the way and she told me on the way garner had a stroke and he's not
01:50:36.280going to make it and um at that time uh i'm about halfway to the hospital definitely wasn't driving
01:50:45.000safely um i just remember she said it and i just didn't believe her um i just like i didn't know
01:50:55.240what to say i'm crying and uh i was like okay like do you want me at the house or the hospital and
01:51:00.920she's like yeah come here so i i left uh i kept driving hung up the phone and the whole time i
01:51:06.920was driving there i just you know i kept saying no out loud to myself like no no no um and i got
01:51:14.840there and it's like he'll be fine once i see him you know like he's anyway so um
01:51:24.360it's hard man yeah yeah then uh i got up to the got up to the room uh i'm out in the hall with
01:51:35.560megan and her dad was there and um before we get to go into the room uh the nurse comes out and
01:54:29.420it's really difficult to describe the feelings that you have in a moment like that when you
01:54:35.260know your entire reality has come crashing down and is imploding on you um you're i think i think
01:54:42.700in a lot of ways i was still in shock um but then trying to find ways to express the injustice that
01:54:51.580my family had suffered and try to somehow like educate this person because if you can
01:54:57.100And Devon and I, before the show, we watched this video of Garnet and him just sitting at our kitchen table and Garnet's short of breath and he's very sick.
01:55:05.860And it was it was a live video he put out on Facebook.
01:55:08.940And he's like, you know what, each one teach one.
01:55:11.760And that was just one of his simple little slogans that he always repeated.
01:55:16.920And it was that sort of mantra, I guess, that was ringing in my head at the time where it's like, yeah, I'm like, you know, this is an impossible situation.
01:55:27.100And I mean, you're kind of outside of your body. It's like this really weird experience where
01:55:31.520you're still questioning the reality. Like, is this actually happening to me?
01:55:35.540But then at the same time, you know that it is happening to you. You have no tears left to cry
01:55:40.920in that moment because you've been crying for 24 hours. You're curious, but at the same time,
01:55:45.960you're numb because, you know, like the worst possible thing in your life has just happened to
01:55:52.680you um short of your own passing you know like it was it was a really really strange time full
01:56:00.240of really strange emotions um anyway so i i mean the guys here maybe they can explain a little
01:56:07.220better i don't know if you have better recollection recollection than i do as far as like
01:56:10.920what the conversation went what happened because i remember having the conversation i remember what
01:56:15.580i said um but again it's sort of one of those like you're in this like trance they're sort of
01:56:20.200in this daze, you know? Um, so yeah. She really did walk the line perfectly of, um, making sure
01:56:29.080that the, the woman on the other side of the phone felt, um, felt the injustice of it. Um,0.98
01:56:37.960I, I really can't, uh, like my hat goes off to Megan. She, she handled that phone call
01:56:45.300in the best possible way she made sure that that that woman i'm sure she talked to other people
01:56:51.900and told them about that phone call um i'm positive of it because yeah she told me that
01:56:59.320was the first time that she had heard that this was something that was happening in ontario
01:57:02.680yeah and i think darn it would have been happy too megan that you were showing like love your
01:57:07.700enemies right even in the moment of you have what people would see as a valid excuse to not love
01:57:14.240your enemies and so um for me that really like that's what that means to me and i think garnet
01:57:19.780um garnet would probably certainly agree so thank you for that that's what garnet was about he like
01:57:27.680he didn't hate them he just thought they were misguided yeah yeah yeah i mean there's lots of
01:57:34.860people in this community that garnet started that um you know they were wearing masks or
01:57:41.540lining their kids up he had those conversations where it's like hey guys guess what i did today
01:57:45.960you know or or we'd be there witnessing it and like you know deter someone from you know an
01:57:50.100experimental drug right like those were really like he wasn't just like pretending you know he
01:57:55.500had everything to lose by uh making the stand and for him to just embrace that and um you know and
01:58:02.660be loud about it was just really uh the character is strong but his blood cries out because it's
01:58:08.620innocent blood and what uh what what legacy did he want to leave behind the kids were always around
01:58:19.660garnet was always about the kids and the next generation and so for him to take the stand that
01:58:26.220he did and and i in a way still does because that energy is still moving right we will carry
01:58:33.500the torch as well and the fire that he you know was part of igniting um for the next generation
01:58:39.200like the kids are awesome to see play at the park you know run around and there's not if there's
01:58:43.880caution tape up it can come down we're gonna have a good time you know and it's uh it's like our
01:58:49.600responsibility to you know raise our kids in a community that we'll take care of you know
01:58:55.540the adults when they get old for example darn it and i talked about having communities all across
01:59:00.860the country to kind of knit us together you know and meet with people that so so if dr trosey's
01:59:07.180services are needed in you know bc you know or wherever across the country how can we make this
01:59:12.940happen and provide for each other on the way so like it was something that like like i say when
01:59:17.660we're on the hill it's like the hill to die on this is it like it's each other that's all we have
01:59:21.980is each other yeah i think in answer to your question about legacy shadow i think um garnet
01:59:28.860And I'm sure a lot of people are wondering if we pursued legal action. This is a question that I get asked a lot. And whether we considered that and whether we tried to go that route. The answer is, yeah, we tried. We went to three different influential lawyers who are quite prestigious across the country.
01:59:46.760Um, and we were unequivocally given the same answer, which is that given the circumstances
01:59:53.080of Garnett's, um, health leading up to the kidney transplant issue, the doctors would
01:59:59.020be too protected and we would essentially be wasting our money and effort because they
02:00:04.740would be able to hide behind his preexisting conditions of diabetes and other things and
02:00:09.100say that the, his death was inevitable regardless of what their actions were.
02:00:14.120And unfortunately, that's the case for a lot of people I've learned who are going through these medical malpractice suits in Canada.