Statement in the Legislature on Tissue and Organ Donation

Statement in the BC Legislature on Tuesday, April 20.

TISSUE AND ORGAN DONATION AND WORK OF EVA MARKVOORT

D. Black: This week is National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week. Right now there are 335 British Columbians on the wait-list for an organ transplant. For these British Columbians, each day is filled with uncertainty.

Since 1968 over 4,850 British Columbians have received a life-saving transplant, including former MLAs Ed Conroy, Sindi Hawkins and Chuck Puchmayr, my predecessor in New Westminster who is here with us today. But there are still too many people who never get that chance. Dr. Robert Levy, a transplant respirologist
on the provincial lung transplant team, says a lack of donor organs means one out of three patients dies waiting for an organ transplant in Canada.

I want to take a moment to tell you about a remarkable young woman in New Westminster. Eva Markvoort was on the wait-list for a second double-lung transplant for cystic fibrosis. Instead of letting her illness defeat her, she decided to reach out to raise awareness of cystic fibrosis and the importance of organ donation as the subject of an award-winning documentary and by creating a blog called 65 Red Roses, named after a mispronunciation by children of cystic fibrosis.

But last month, just days before her 26th birthday, Eva died. She was a talented actress who just a month earlier had received her bachelor's degree from the University of Victoria. It's heartbreaking that someone so young, so promising and so courageous had her life cut short waiting for a donor.

Eva's spirit reached millions around the world through her blog, and now it's up to us to ensure that the causes she championed are not forgotten. I urge all members of this House to ensure that their names are on organ donor registry and to take this message back to their communities so that we can make sure people waiting for a transplant do get a second chance at life.