Joseph Santos-Kennedy’s favourite nickname was “Uncle Joey.” Loved by his niece Eliana and nephew JJ, Uncle Joey adored them right back and was always up for some fun. The backyard swimming pool at the family home in Langley hosted many hours of laughter and Joey made a point to stop by anytime his niece and nephew were there visiting from Calgary.
“Uncle Joey would come home with his work clothes on, and his niece and nephew would ambush him with their water guns,” recalls Joey’s mom Maria. “Joey would throw the kids in the pool and they would fight back with their water guns. He was always around for the kids.”
Joey was also around for everyone in the family and his large circle of friends, looking after others before himself. When his stepdad was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2023 and passed away later that year, Joey was his mom’s rock, always checking in with her and spending time with her.
Just a few months after her husband’s death, Maria got the call that Joey had been in a horrible car accident and was at Royal Columbian Hospital ICU.
“I was in Calgary visiting my daughter and her family. When I rushed back home and walked into Joey’s hospital room and saw him attached to all the tubes and all that equipment, it just broke my heart,” remarks Maria.
Joey had just celebrated his 40th birthday a month earlier.
Maria smiles as she thinks back to when Joey was born. She had always wanted to be a mom and Joey, her firstborn, arrived with fanfare. Weighing in at 10 pounds, Maria had to have a C-section to deliver him. Joey’s little sister Tara came along 13 months later and the two were very close as they grew up.
“He always watched over his sister and was very protective of her when his friends came around,” Maria says. “The two of them got into so much mischief and they did so much together. I remember they spent a lot of time with my parents, who would take them to the shops at Metrotown and the kids would hide from their grandparents in those round clothing racks.”
In school, Joey got involved in everything, especially sports. After a family friend took him skating, he started playing hockey. Then there was soccer in the summer, rugby in high school, and a lot of swimming lessons. Their home was the centre of activity and the door was open to all with lots of kids from the neighbourhood coming and going.
Though Joey was constantly on the go, he always found time to support someone in need. When a friend lost her younger brother, he would go over to her home to just sit with her and hold her hand, until she said she was okay.
Joey’s friends gave him the nickname “World’s Nicest Man,” partly as a joke, but mostly because it was true. He was also well-known for his intense love of rock music, attending dozens of rock concerts over the years.
Just weeks before Joey’s terrible car crash, the family went to Mexico for a week-long vacation. They swam with the turtles, took lots of underwater photos, and spent hours in the pool. One time, Uncle Joey dived into the pool and swam underwater until he got to his niece. Eliana didn’t know he was there, so when he popped up, she screamed and jumped out of the pool as fast as she could. Everyone laughed so hard, recalls Maria.
Maria shares another of her fondest memories from that trip, “We would get up super early in Mexico and Uncle Joey didn’t have a choice. But we would all sit together and wait for the sunrise.”
Maria has long supported organ donation and remembers seeing something on the news when she first came to Canada at the age of nine.
“Then in Grade 7, our teacher took us to the blood donation clinic and I read up on some of the pamphlets,” adds Maria. “It just made me think. I registered as an organ donor in high school and I am proud to be an organ donor.”
In February 2024, when the medical team said there was nothing further they could do for Joey, Maria and the rest of the family discussed the possibility of organ donation. They all agreed to go forward because they knew Joey would want to help others. Joey saved three people’s lives.
“I just wish I had more time with my son. We miss him so much,” Maria says. “What an awesome human being he was, full of life and deeply loved. I just want to let his recipients know that he was a wonderful person taken much too early. I want them to enjoy the time they have been given to honour my son.”
Maria says some days it’s hard to get up and keep going, with the loss of both her son and husband. She says she feels like they are watching over her and the family, and knowing Joey’s legacy lives on through organ donation has helped with her grief.
“No one knows when we might be able to help someone in need. Things happen. I just want people to know it’s wonderful to be able to give that gift to others. I will always be grateful that Joey could help others.”
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There are more than 600 British Columbians currently waiting for their second chance at life. Please register your decision on organ donation today. All you need is two minutes and your Personal Health Number.
registeryourdecision.ca
