HOK #135: Meet Danny Sutton-Long

I was born on November 21, 1972, in a town called Bishop Stortford in England. I am the second of three children. I live with my wife Ged, and with my two daughters, Holly, who’s 19 and at university, and Eve, who is almost 16 and at high school. We have three dogs, two geckos, and two hamsters.

I went to live in Saudi Arabia for two years in 2000. Then we moved to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates for three and a half years which was really hot! We came to visit Canada and we just absolutely loved it. 

(Kitchissippi is) a fun little community, isn’t it? You can walk down the street and it’s got a whole mix of people. Different social standings, different nationalities. There’s still nice little local shops like the Hintonburg Marché, and lots of little local pubs which are microbreweries. It’s just got a nice atmosphere.

I like to run, I’ve ran seven and a half marathons. I like to go to the gym, but I’ve had a series of injuries. I’m just getting back into it now. I’m an amateur bladesmith, so I like to do some blacksmithing in my garden. I used to do scuba diving when I lived in the Middle East, so I’d love to start doing that again. I’ve done I think 80 dives so far. I’d like to learn how to weld.

I like to try and help people feel better, and if I can’t make them feel better, then I like to just try and help them live out the rest of their life in comfort. I donated a kidney to my friend in 2017. She had kidney failure because she has a rare genetic condition. Her kidneys never started working again, so she was on dialysis. I have lots and lots of thanks and admiration for the Ottawa Hospital’s Transplant Program.

(Click here to learn more about the Living Kidney Donor Program at the Ottawa Hospital)

I left school at the age of 16. I went to do a year of a social work qualification and decided that wasn’t for me. So I applied for nursing. Did my nurse training in 1991, qualified at the end of 94. When I moved to Canada, I worked as an intensive care nurse for almost 15 years, in the general intensive care at the Ottawa General Hospital. In 2019, I moved, still as a nurse, to the Trillion Gift of Life Network, which is part of Ontario Health, as an organ and tissue donation co-ordinator. One organ donor from a neurologically deceased patient can save up to eight lives. 

Story collected by Millie Farley