Somebody gave Eugene Melnyk a second chance in life.

Now he’d like to give back in a big way.

The Senators owner, who needed a liver transplant from an anonymous donor in May 2015 to save his life, held a news conference on Wednesday to announce the launch of The Organ Project, formed to help raise exposure and awareness of organ donation.

“I’ve waited for this day for two years,” said Melnyk. “I want to save lives.”

While surveys say 90% of people in Canada support organ donation, Melnyk told reporters at the Canadian Tire Centre only 30% have given their permission to donate when they die so they can help save lives.

Melnyk knows how difficult it is to get a donation because he lived through it while in the transplant unit at the University Health Network in Toronto.

“Every morning (the doctors) would come in and the first question was obvious — it was the elephant in the room — and it was, ‘Do we have one?’ ” said Melnyk. “To get an organ, you have to get on a list.”

The issue for the people on the list is it’s normally long and there aren’t enough people to donate, which makes it tough to find a match.

Melnyk was fortunate because, with help from the Senators, the club was able to launch a public campaign to find someone. More than 2,000 people came forward and, on May 19, the UHN found an exact match from the donor, who didn’t want any recognition and wanted to help Melnyk “win a Stanley Cup.”

Melnyk didn’t want to go public with his need for a donation, but he did so at the urging of his family because his health was so bad he didn’t have much time.

“It was my daughter (Olivia) who said, ‘Dad, either sit here and die or do a public plea and don’t worry about us’, ” said Melnyk. “We were desperate. So desperate that I just found out today that they basically moved me upstairs. That’s the floor you go to and the next step is to the morgue.

“I knew we didn’t have a lot of time because I was just getting sicker, sicker and delirious. My liver just wasn’t functioning.”

Dr. Atul Humar, a Senators fan who is the medical director of the transplant unit at UHN, told Melnyk, “Today is your lucky day.” Within two hours, he had the 11-hour procedure that saved his life.

“I never told (Melnyk) this, but every time I went home, I wasn’t sure he would survive until the next morning,” said Humar.

That’s how close he was to death.

From the list of people that called, 200 were sent for further investigation to see if they were candidates for donation, with 20 people staying in the program. Since the surgery, Melnyk has vowed to give back — that’s why he launched the initiative while flanked by Humar and Senators doctor Don Chow.

They’d like to make the donation process easier in Canada. Currently, it’s handled provincially. Through The Organ Project, they would like to simplify the process, remove any stigma attached and have people take the two minutes to fill out the form.

Initially, it will be launched in Ontario. Next year, they’ll go across Canada to try to raise awareness for The Organ Project. It will be easy for people to opt in — they can opt out at any time. In the meantime, the group has been working with both the federal and provincial governments.

“Once we’ve perfected it here in Ontario, then we can roll it out fairly easily,” said Melnyk.

Melnyk has been working on this since he was released from hospital and he’s determined to make it work. He has the backing of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman — don’t be surprised if, down the road, all the league’s arenas feature spots promoting organ donation.

This is close to Melnyk’s heart.

“I made a mental deal with myself that I would somehow give back,” Melnyk said in an interview with Postmeda after the formal session. “If I was going to do something, it was going to be big. You can pitter-patter on the outside, but that doesn’t make the impact that I want to make.

“Luckily, I have the means to do it. I think I’ll get great support. There’s ways of tieing it into the community.”

Melnyk was lucky enough to have somebody save his life. Now he wants others to step up and do the same with the simple act of organ donation.

“I was very, very fortunate to be a recipient,” Melnyk said.

CARRIE UNDERWOOD LENDS STAR POWER TO GALA

Eugene Melnyk is getting a little help from his friends.

Hoping to raise $2 million for The Organ Project, Melnyk reached out to former Senators centre Mike Fisher to see if his wife Carrie Underwood, a world-famous singer, would perform at a private show for 650 people on March 31 at the Fairmont Royal York hotel in Toronto.

The answer was quick: No problem. Underwood is doing the show for free — all funds raised from the gala can be donated to the charity.

“(Fisher) stepped up big-time, asked his wife if she’d come perform for us and she agreed,” Melnyk said. “God bless both of them that they were able to step up like that.”

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

Twitter: @sungarrioch