65_RedRoses: About the Subjects
23-year old Vancouver resident EVA MARKVOORT (aka "65_RedRoses") is an aspiring artist and writer in Canada, but these days she finds herself a full-time patient at St. Paul’s hospital. Diagnosed at age one with the fatal genetic disease Cystic Fibrosis (CF), Eva’s health has finally declined to the point where she can no longer take care of herself. Forced to quit work, leave school and move back home, she’s told that without a double lung transplant she has less than two years to live. Until a donor is been found, she must carry a pager with her at all times, alternating between staying in the hospital and at home.
The perfect patient, Eva listens to her doctors, takes all her medications and endures a routine of painful procedures, but still she continues to grow weaker by the day. She knows that even if her pager does go off for transplant, she may not make it to recovery, but this is a risk she’s willing to take. She refuses to lose hope and becomes a source of inspiration for her network of online friends who also have CF. Considered an "older sister" to "Spirit_of_Kina," and "megmucus", Eva is determined to defy the odds and get a second chance at life.
19-year old American MEG MOORE (aka "megmucus") is a wild child from Portland, Oregon. She loves Ozzy Osbourne and is living with an aged rocker in his 40s named Marko, who is also her boyfriend. But while Meg tries to deny her disease to everyone, including herself, she continues to suffer from many of the symptoms characteristic of CF. She has difficulty breathing, and constantly coughs up mucus. Meg’s health is rapidly declining but she refuses to be compliant with her medications and hospital stays. She rejects the idea of getting a double lung transplant, and because of her history of self-destructive behavior, is not even a candidate for the surgery. While she looks up to her friend "65_RedRoses," who is the only source of real support in her life, Meg is hell bent on living and dying on her own terms.
21-year old KINA BOYCE (aka "Spirit_of_Kina") understands that having a transplant means living on borrowed time. Kina received new lungs in October 2006, but she is now fighting rejection and infection. No stranger to pain as a transplant recipient, Kina likes to take control of her body, experimenting with tattoos and piercing. Living in a trailer with her family in Eerie, Pennsylvania, she wants to be independent, but constantly has to worry about her health. She’s also worried about "65_RedRoses," since she knows how hard it is to go through transplant and survive the surgery. Through the internet she keeps track of what’s going on in the life of "65_RedRoses," and prays that her friend’s pager goes off in time.
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