Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to a private member's bill brought forward by my colleague, the member for Edmonton Manning. His bill proposes something simple: a national medal of recognition for every living organ donor in Canada to raise awareness and education about the power of living donation.
My family has lived with the cruelty of Alport syndrome, a genetic disease that steals kidney function. Generation after generation, it has been a quiet, constant shadow in our family. I grew up with adults speaking in hushed tones about test results, doctor's appointments and the next person whose kidneys were beginning to fail.
When I was a little girl, my dear grandmother, Magdalena Villavicencio, died on my bed. I remember the sounds of adults crying around me. I remember the heaviness in the room, and I remember not fully understanding what had happened but knowing that our family had lost another fight in a long war. My uncle, Jose Gabriel Cobena, died too, and now my cousins, the next generation, have been fighting the same battle. Both brothers needed transplants as teenagers. The eldest received a kidney from his father, but the father only had one to give, so the younger brother, at 19 years old, had no donor match.
There is nothing more frightening than waiting to see whether someone we love will live or die. Death appeared close, and even closer with each passing day, and then something extraordinary happened: My brother, Gabriel Cobena, stepped forward. He was young and healthy, with his whole life ahead of him, and he said, “Test me. If I am a match, he will not die.” Although these words may sound simple, the situation was not.
My cousin was in Ecuador in a very delicate state, so weak he could not travel. If the transplant were to happen, it would have to be in a public hospital where there was no hot water, no toilet seats and no modern comforts, just faith and the courage that only God puts into the hearts of ordinary people. My brother walked into the surgery knowing the risks were high. He walked in knowing that complications were common. He walked in knowing that in that hospital, donating a kidney could very well be a death sentence, but he did it anyway.
For four hours we waited. It was four hours of pure agony, praying with every breath that God would guide the surgeon's hands and that both young men, my brother and my cousin, would come out alive, and by the Lord's mercy, they did. My cousin recovered. He finished university, and this past summer he got married. My brave, selfless brother gave him a future he would never have had. He too got married, and he has two handsome young sons.
When I speak to this bill, I speak with the deepest of convictions because my father, Gilmerth Cobena, who donated his kidney to his mother, is a hero. My brother, Gabriel Cobena, is a hero. The sponsor of this bill, the member for Edmonton Manning, who donated part of his liver to his son Tyler, is a hero, and every Canadian who has given an organ so that someone else can live is a hero.
This medal would be about recognizing that, among us, walk women and men who have offered a part of their own body so that another human being might get one more sunrise, one more breath, one more chance at life. This bill would simply allow Canada to say that we see them, we honour them and they are the best of us.
This is a moment for every Canadian to feel proud of the House because, together, across all parties, we are standing in unity to support this private member's bill, reflecting our shared commitment to the people we serve.