Mr. Speaker, a few weeks ago, a very special young woman from my riding lost her lifelong battle with kidney disease at the age of 24. Katharine Hay was born with polycystic kidney disease and had her first transplant when she was in grade five.
With the support and encouragement of her parents, she enjoyed sports, riding horses and became an accomplished pianist. In high school, she took up biathlon winning a bronze medal at the 2001 national championships.
Starting in pre-med at the University of Alberta, she later switched to radio and television at NAIT, hosting a weekly radio show and writing for the student paper.
In 2007, her mother donated a kidney when her transplanted kidney failed.
At the U of A she continued to lead New Democrat youth on campus, bravely running against a cabinet minister in the 2008 provincial election.
When she died, Katharine was training for the Kidney Foundation Gift of Life Fun Run. Her friends formed Team Kat, raising over $8,000. In her honour, Edmonton's Kidney Foundation has named its award for most individual donations “The Katharine Hay Memorial Award”. We will all miss her.