Saffron Day is held every October to encourage Aussies of multicultural backgrounds to register as organ and tissue donors and talk with their family and friends about donation in memory of young organ donor Deyann Udani.
The Udani family from Sydney, including Deyaan’s older sister Naisha, were on a family holiday in Mumbai, India in January 2016 when tragedy struck.
Young Deyaan was rushed to hospital after complaining of a severe headache. Unfortunately, Deyaan couldn’t be saved and he passed away due to a brain haemorrhage.
The Udani family didn’t hesitate to donate Deyaan’s organs as just before they had left Sydney to go on their holiday, the young boy and his sister had been taught about organ donation at school and had told their parents they wanted to be donors if anything happened to them.
Deyaan’s donation saved four lives in India. When the family returned home, they decided to help raise awareness in Australia around organ and tissue donation, and “Saffron Day” was born.
"Deyaan was a very loving boy and loved helping others. He once participated in a school carnival race. We advised him to run as fast as he could, but he still came last,” his father Rupesh said.
"When we asked him why he came last, he replied he stopped to help a friend who fell while running. That is how Deyaan was.
“We came up with the idea of Saffron Day because orange was Deyaan’s favourite colour. He wanted orange for his birthday, and he liked everything that was orange.
"Saffron symbolises courage, strength and sacrifice, qualities seen in little Deyaan.”
We look forward to seeing you wearing orange on Friday 22 October, and encourage you to jump on social media and post a pic tagging #DonateLife #SaffronDay #Doitfordeyaan
