Eileen Zheng‘s mother taught her to ride a bike, among the many other gifts during her upbringing. So when her mother’s kidney condition became really grave, Eileen offered one of hers, for the second time. This time her mother accepted. That was two years ago. Now the 28 year-old educator is finishing the last leg of her cross-Canada ‘Gift from Within‘ bike tour. It is Eileen’s way to raise awareness of the value of organ transplants and get people to sign up to donate their organs.
ListenToday, after a two-day break, in Cheticamp, on the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton, Eileen Zheng is getting ready to get the ferry for the rest of the journey through Newfoundland to St. John’s. That’s expected to be around August 30th. After another two-day break to enjoy the sights, then it’s back to Vancouver for the start of the semestre in the high school where she is the career counsellor.
“If you’re willing to recieve an organ you should be willing to give one”
And what a summer vacation story Eileen Zheng will have to tell! She says the country and the people are beautiful. Equipped to camp, Zheng was the gracious recipient of so many invitations to spend the night, that she only camped about 20 nights in total over the three and a half month journey.
In Chestermere, Alberta she met Kristy Plotsky, who like her daughter, is a heart recipient. It was Kristy who coined the phrase that stayed with Eileen over the miles: “If you’re willing to receive an organ you should be willing to give one.”
It all began in 2014 when her mother’s kidney disease took a turn for the worse. With emergency surgery necessary Eileen consulted the doctors and nurses to know more about the process. When she assured her mother that she would still be able to have a baby and continue the sports that were so much a part of her life, her mother consented. That was Mother’s Day 2014; on February 25, 2015 the surgery took place.
The Transplant Games
Eileen Zheng, who uses her bike as her primary means of transportation in Vancouver, set out on May 16th, 2016. She had company for the first two months, but her companion tired and he dropped out. She continued alone for a month, and now her fiance has joined her to complete the experience.
She was in New Brunswick when the semi-annual Transplant Games were taking place in Toronto. Another great Canadian donated her air miles so Eileen Zheng could return to Toronto to attend the event. 200 transplant recipients and living donors from across Canada, the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Australia came together for a week of sport and fun. Eileen said it was a wonderful experience. “It gives recipients and donors, living donors, a chance to join games and be a part of it, and be alive.”
She has told everyone about her donor experience. She says she has never seen her mother with so much energy. But she keeps thinking of all the people who became her mother’s friends over seven years of dialysis. They are still waiting.
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