Celebrate Transplant

A guest post by Dan Fumano.

Celebrate Transplant is an upcoming event aiming to raise funds for transplant research and promote awareness of the need for increased donor registration in BC (only 17% of British Columbians are registered donors).  It takes place Saturday, April 17 at the Medical Student & Alumni Centre near Vancouver General Hospital.

This second annual Celebrate Transplant event has been in the works for months, and this year it is dedicated to Eva Markvoort for all she has done for transplant awareness.  Sadly, Eva passed away last month just before her 26th birthday, ending her life-long battle with Cystic Fibrosis.  She was a remarkable young woman who touched thousands of lives, first through her blog 65_RedRoses, then through the documentary film of the same name.

65_redroses_eva_markvoort

Eva’s hope was to increase awareness about organ donation, encouraging more people to become registered donors. Reportedly, after the broadcast of 65_RedRoses, the rate of new registered donors in Canada tripled.

Celebrate Transplant is also an opportunity to appreciate Eva’s brilliant artistic and creative side.  The night will be the first public exhibition of a photographic collaboration with her friend Cyrus McEachern, a Vancouver photographer and medical student who helped organize this year’s Celebrate Transplant event alongside Joscelyn Carthy, a nursing student and board member of the Transplant Research Foundation of BC.

Although Eva will surely be in everyone’s hearts and minds, this isn’t meant to be a sombre event; rather, it should be a celebration of the beauty of transplant and the lives that it prolongs. Event details can be found here and tickets bought online here.

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2 Comments

  • Reply aliciafashionista April 21, 2010 at 1:53 am

    I just wrote a post about this event :)

    http://aliciafashionista.blogspot.com/2010/04/monday-morning-message.html

  • Reply Kelsey April 21, 2010 at 4:27 pm

    I’m so happy to hear that. And I’m so happy that you’re encouraging people to register to be organ donors.

  • Leave a Reply to Kelsey