When I met Eva, it was after she had passed on from this world and gone into the next one.
A friend on Twitter wrote, “Rest in Peace Eva http://65redroses.livejournal.com – thank you for sharing your spirit of love & courage”. In less than 140 characters, I was motivated to see who Eva was.
Eva Markvoort was a 23 year old living with cystic fibrosis.
Eva, a New Westminster native, has been struggling with cystic fibrosis ever since she was a youngster. A moving documentary film, titled 65 Red Roses, was made of her wait to receive a double lung transplant. Directed by Vancouver filmmaker Nimisha Mukerji, it aired last year at the Vancouver Film Festival and on CBC TV. This heart-wrenching six-minute video taken in Eva’s hospital room on Thursday reveals the overwhelming strength and purposefulness of Eva, the dignity of her father, Bill, and the devotion of her sister, Annie, and mother, Janet. The walls of the Vancouver General Hospital room are covered with cards and letters from Eva’s many admirers.
The first post of her blog says this:
Our beautiful girl died this morning at 9:30. She is at peace.
Will write more later.
As a mother, my instant reaction was heartbreak. In just a few seconds, I understood why Eva was so deeply cherished, and why people who will never meet her, will love her just the same.
© Eva Dien Brine Markvoort 2006-2010
i can’t breathe
Mar. 25th, 2010 at 9:55 AM
i’m at that point now
i’m done with the poetics
asking for help
my sister is helping me write
actually helping me writethe medications have been piling up
they are taking their toll
i am supersaturated with medications
i’ve been medically missing in action for two days
the docs started taking me off some of them to see how i would manageand i am not managing
not managing at alli’m drowning in the medications
i can’t breathe
every hour
once an houri can’t breathe
something has to change
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
Visit 65 Red Roses to celebrate this beautiful Soul.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
All of us who followed her blog came to know and love her. She was a friend although we never met her. We followed her through her brave battle always hoping for the elusive miracle that would come in time to save her, but it was not to be. And so a sadness has been sent across the world by one brief posting. Eva has died and we will all miss her courage, her message of hope and her love. Rest my friend, you have fought a brave battle and now it is time to be at peace..
I suppose its a life lesson for us all, in that we can live an entire life and not left any sign we were here or we can have been here a brief time and given away enormous gifts.