This couple is hoping their love story will inspire you to become an organ donor
CBC
Emma Smith is a perfect match for Ben Doerksen — in more ways than one.
The Elora, Ont. couple first met at a Halloween party in 2021 and began dating soon after that.
By then, Doerksen had already been receiving dialysis treatment for about three months after suddenly being diagnosed with kidney failure in Spring 2021.
"I was hunkering in for what I would assume was going to be a fairly long wait for any sort of donor opportunity," he said
"I spent most of that year wrapping my head around the very sudden and spontaneous life change."
When they first began dating in November 2021, Smith said she did not completely understand what Doerksen was going through, but she began to see firsthand how it affected his day-to-day life.
That's when she decided she wanted to help by donating a kidney.
"There was just something in my soul and my heart that said: 'Why not?'" she said.
"There was this pull toward him and I just wanted to see him get better."
Doerksen said it felt surreal when he heard he'll be getting a new kidney from his life partner.
"For it to be somebody who I had met so recently and who was so sure of this decision, it was, and still is, even post-transplant, hard to wrap my head around that this person was willing to do this for me and truly change my life forever."
Smith said they've only grown closer since the surgery.
"I say we're twin flames, we're two peas in a pod," she said.
"To recover with one another too is such a beautiful thing, knowing that he was going to get better through this."
This First Person column is written by Melinda Maldonado, who lives in Toronto. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.
For a couple of months last spring, Hamilton's Cootes Paradise Marsh offered a glimpse of what's possible.
A man walking his dog on a Lower Mainland trail was injured earlier this week in a black bear attack, the B.C. Conservation Officer Service says.
Author Suzanne Craig-Whytock has written post-apocalyptic fantasies and dark thrillers to humour for teens and adults and has a number of titles to her name including The Dome, Smile and Feasting Upon the Bones.
They wish they didn't need it, but it's now a necessity.
An ongoing debate in the House of Commons could push some government departments into a cash crunch and run up against other deadlines as the end of the fall sitting approaches.
Celebrity chef Vikram Vij is partnering with a Toronto charity to help raise funds for cash-strapped food banks.
The federal government did not meet the targets for its program to plant two billion trees during the program's third planting season.
Governments in Canada, the U.S. and abroad along with tech giants are all eyeing nuclear power to meet a growing demand for electricity and climate goals at the same time.
Allison McCabe's own story of medical dismissal began last August with a trip to an emergency room in Vancouver.
The leader of Canada's Green Party had some strong words for Nova Scotia's Progressive Conservatives while joining her provincial counterpart on the campaign trail. Elizabeth May was in Halifax Saturday to support the Nova Scotia Green Party in the final days of the provincial election campaign. She criticized PC Leader Tim Houston for calling a snap election this fall after the Tories passed legislation in 2021 that gave Nova Scotia fixed election dates every four years.