Eva Markvoort (March 31, 1984 – March 27, 2010) was a woman from

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capi ...

, British Columbia, Canada who died from cystic fibrosis at the age of 25. She blogged about her life, family and experiences, including undergoing a

lung transplant Lung transplantation, or pulmonary transplantation, is a surgical procedure in which one or both lungs are replaced by lungs from a donor. Donor lungs can be retrieved from a living or deceased donor. A living donor can only donate one lung lobe. ...

and her subsequent

transplant rejection Transplant rejection occurs when transplanted tissue is rejected by the recipient's immune system, which destroys the transplanted tissue. Transplant rejection can be lessened by determining the molecular similitude between donor and recipient ...

, in her blog "65_Redroses," which is also the name of a documentary film about her, '' 65 Redroses''. Eva's

online identity Internet identity (IID), also online identity or internet persona, is a social identity that an Internet user establishes in online communities and websites. It may also be an actively constructed presentation of oneself. Although some people choo ...

is based on Canadian cystic fibrosis community lore that "65 roses" is a

malapropism A malapropism (also called a malaprop, acyrologia, or Dogberryism) is the mistaken use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, resulting in a nonsensical, sometimes humorous utterance. An example is the statement attributed to ...

among children for the disease of "cystic fibrosis". Eva added 'red' because it was her favourite colour. She was also awarded the title of Miss New Westminster in 2002. Despite early success following her double lung transplant in 2007, Markvoort died on March 27, 2010, at

Vancouver General Hospital Vancouver General Hospital (locally known as VGH, or Vancouver General) is a medical facility located in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is the largest facility in the Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre (VHHSC) group of medical facilit ...

after a long battle with

, while awaiting a second lung transplant. Shortly before her death, the 25-year-old theatre student received her degree from the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary insti ...

at her hospital bedside. On March 25, Markvoort wrote the last post on her blog: Markvoort had recorded an emotional farewell video on February 11, saying she likely had only days to live. These last spoken words to her web community drew more than 150,000 views in less than 24 hours. In addition to her degree, she also received the

Cystic Fibrosis Canada Cystic Fibrosis Canada is a national charitable not-for-profit corporation established in 1960. Cystic Fibrosis Canada's mandate is to help individuals with cystic fibrosis, principally by funding cystic fibrosis research and care. The organizat ...

's Doug Summerhayes award for outstanding commitment to the cause. She was also a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal. On April 30, 2010, Markvoort's family held a memorial service that was attended and watched by thousands of people, around the world. The celebration was streamed live to Eva's blog for her followers who could not attend in person. A version has been edited by Justin Cousineau and posted on Eva's blog, which continues to be updated by her family.

References

External links

Eva Markvoort's blog ''65 Red Roses''Film websiteWatch ''65_Redroses'' at CBC.ca
{{DEFAULTSORT:Markvoort, Eva 1984 births 2010 deaths Lung transplant recipients University of Victoria alumni People from New Westminster Canadian beauty pageant winners Canadian beauty pageant contestants Canadian bloggers Deaths from cystic fibrosis People with cystic fibrosis Beauty pageant contestants with disabilities Canadian writers with disabilities