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National Board
Our National Board is elected every two
years on October 31, 60 days after year-end, following the
World Transplant Games. The National Executive is drawn from
across Canada, and Regional Directors are elected from the
seven regions that comprise our national body.
Duties of the
Board Members
Dave Smith - President
11230-72 Avenue,Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 0B5
(780) 436-3544
(780) 492-1920
Email davidsmith@txworks.ca
Dave received a kidney transplant on February
18, 1997 (family day) from his older brother Barry. Since
then, he has been fortunate to be able to participate in the
Gift of Life Games in Kamloops, BC, the first Canadian National
Games in Sherbrooke, Quebec in 2000, the 2001 World Transplant
Games in Kobe, Japan and the 2002 Canadian, National Games
in St. John's, Newfoundland.
Dave keeps active in the gym and runs in
local road races. After becoming Regional Director for Alberta
early in 2002, he has been busy trying to increase local awareness
of organ and tissue donation, as well as planning fundraisers
and social gatherings.
Dave recently became involved with a pre-transplant
teaching group at the University of Alberta Hospital, which
helps patients going on the waiting list understand what they
are about to go through, and to let them know that they can
pursue a healthy and active lifestyle after a transplant.
Dave traveled to Nancy, France and participated in the 2003
World Transplant Games and met up again with all his transplant
buddies.
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Janet Brady - Past President
Email: brady.janet
( at ) gmail.com
Janet received her gift of life, a new liver,
in 1990, and since that time has volunteered in many capacities
for the CTA. Janet has been involved in developing and implementing
strategies to increase organ and tissue donation provincially
and nationally, including the Canadian Transplant Games held
every two years, co-host of the XV World Transplant Games
in 2005, and the development of organ donation awareness publications,
teaching tools, and curriculum. In addition to participating
in the camaraderie and competition of the World Transplant
Games since 1991, Janet manages corporate training and continuing
education departments at Fanshawe College. “We honour
and thank our donors and donor families by living life to
the fullest with our family and friends, and trying to make
a difference so that others may have a second chance at life.”
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Margaret Benson - Vice President - West
Email: mmbenson
( @ ) txworks.ca
Margaret Benson received a double
lung transplant, Dec. 1999. Since then she has promoted organ
donation and transplantation through many programs endorsed
by BC Transplant (BCT) and the Canadian Transplant Association.
(CTA) Through the BCT’s school committee, she draws
on her skills as a teacher and has spoken to more than 20
000 students, administrators and counselors about the significance
of organ donation.
Margaret has become actively involved in
athletics since her surgery in order to promote the importance
of fitness to transplant recipients and to honour her donor.
She’s participated successfully in three World Transplant
Games, the latest in Bangkok, Thailand 2007. Margaret has
discovered many new athletic passions such as; race walking,
running, dragon boating, rowing, snow shoeing and snowmobiling.
As one of the founding members and paddlers of Vancouver’s,
“Gift of Life,” dragon boat team she is not only
proud of the team’s athletic endeavours, but also their
promotion of organ donation and transplantation. The Vancouver
Sun Run, Canada’s largest 10km run, has provided a venue
for many running/walking teams. For the last 7 years, Gift
of Life Organ Donation Works organized by Margaret, has been
amongst them. It is always a highlight of National Organ and
Tissue Donor Awareness Week (NOTDAW) in Vancouver. She also
has a love for the stage and has been involved both on stage
and behind the scenes in many local theatre productions.
Margaret continues to be an active
board member with the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
and hopes one day a cure will be found for this devastating
disease. As the Western Vice President and the BC representative
for CTA she is excited to help shape its future. She looks
forward to seeing members from all across Canada join forces
to promote organ donation, honour our donors and donor families
and prove organ donation works.
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Debbie Lanktree - Treasurer
Canadian Transplant Association
c/o Neil Folkins.
11649 St. Albert Trail,
Edmonton, Alberta, N6A 2H1
Residence: 780-455-1655
Email: neilfolkins ( @ ) txworks.ca
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Kathy Tachynski - Secretary
Edmonton, AB
Email: kathytach ( @) hotmail.com
Kathy received her gift of life in August, 1991 after 6 ½ years on dialysis. Within a year of her kidney transplant, she became actively involved with the CTA in Edmonton, AB. From her first World Transplant Games experience in 1993 (Vancouver, BC), she (and her family) felt an instant connection to the CTA. As a result, she has volunteered with the CTA ever-since and has participated in every Canadian Transplant Games as well as many World Transplant Games. Wherever Kathy is at the games, you're bound to find at least one member of the Tach- clan either cheering her on, or helping out in some way. She has served in various capacities as Regional Director (Alberta), LOC Chairperson of Media/Marketing (2006 Canadian Transplant Games - Edmonton, AB) and also serves as Secretary for the Alberta Region of CTA.
Kathy works as a Patient Care Manager with the Northern Alberta Renal Program at the University of Alberta Hospital. She also enjoys singing with her twin sister and two good friends in a Ukrainian female a cappella quartet called Heruvymy (which means Cherubim) and have produced a couple of recordings. She finds it very rewarding to speak to students, church groups and other organizations sharing the story of her journey from renal failure to kidney transplant and also volunteers with the Kidney Foundation’s Speaker’s Bureau. She hopes that by sharing her story, she can help others learn about the importance of organ donation and do her part as a transplant recipient to help others on the waiting list receive their gift of life.
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Neil Folkins - Membership Development
Director
11649 St. Albert Trail,
Edmonton, Alberta, N6A 2H1
Residence: 780-455-1655
Email: neilfolkins ( @ ) txworks.ca
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Heather Fisher - World Federation Councilor & Team Manager
E-mail hfisher@rogers.com
Heather is the second longest surviving
liver transplant recipient in Canada and she celebrated her
20th transplant anniversary in April 2003! She climbed Mount
Kilimanjaro in 1989 to demonstrate the achievable, healthy
active lifestyle post-transplant. She has been a medal winner,
representing: Canada prominently in track and field events
at the World Transplant Games in Singapore, Budapest, Vancouver
and Sydney. Heather was the Team Manager in Manchester, England.
She also participated in the US Games. Heather is a nurse
at LHSC in London, Ontario and is involved with the Children's
Rainbow of Miracles and Partnership in Residence:Research
charitable organizations. In addition to being the Canadian
Councilor for the World Transplant Games Federation, Heather
frequently speaks to groups about organ and tissue donation
and transplantation. As Co-Chair of the 2005 World Transplant
Games Bid Committee, Heather has contributed to the City of
London's success in hosting the 2005 World Transplant Games.
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Mark Black - Regional Director for Eastern Provinces
(Mark Represents - NB - PEI - NS - NF)
118 Mount Pleasant Rd.
Moncton, New brunswick
E1G 5J2
506-858-9993
Email: markblack
( @ ) txworks.ca
Mark was the recipient of a double-lung
and heart transplant in September of 2002 and has been involved
in raising awareness for Organ and Tissue Donation ever since.
As one of the new VPs of the CTA, Mark is excited to play
a role in helping bring the CTA into the national spotlight.
Mark works full time as a teacher in NB
and in his spare time travels the province as a motivational
speaker for schools and businesses.
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Rob Kolatschek - Ontario Regional Director
33 Sheppard Ave. East, Unit 1403
Toronto
ON , M2N 7K1
Email: rkolatschek ( @ ) txworks.ca
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Jennifer Holman - Alberta Regional Director
Email: jenniferholman
(@ ) txworks.ca
Jennifer has been a Physical Therapist
at the University of Alberta Hospital since 1977 in a variety
of specialties including cardiac surgery, intensive care,
pediatrics and pulmonary medicine. She has been a Clinical
Coordinator in Transplant Services since the first heart and
lung transplants in 1985 and developed the program for liver
transplants when added in 1989.
She has have been active with the CTA,
Alberta Region for about ten years as Hospital Liaison. Her
"self-appointed" role was to bring information from
the executive to the recipients in the programs and to the
staff. She feels it has turned out to been an extremely valuable
role - it would have been very difficult for the Executive
to disseminate information without someone "on the inside"
to share announcements at rounds, put up posters, sell tickets
and have close contact with transplant candidates and recipients
(a captive audience).
As a Physical Therapist, she is able get
to see first-hand the miraculous recovery possible following
a transplant and I am privileged to be a part of that every
day. She looks forward to many more years with both the University
of Alberta Hospital and the CTA.
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Margaret Benson - British Columbia Regional
Director
Email: mmbenson
( @ ) txworks.ca
Margaret Benson received a double
lung transplant, Dec. 1999. Since then she has promoted organ
donation and transplantation through many programs endorsed
by the BC Transplant Society. Through the BCTS’s school
committee, she draws on her skills as a teacher and has spoken
to more than 13 000 students, administrators and counselors
about the significance of organ donation.
Margaret soon returned to athletics after
her transplant to promote the importance of fitness to transplant
recipients and to honour her donor. She participated successfully
in two World Transplant Games and looks forward to her third
World Games in Bangkok, Thailand 2007. Margaret has discovered
many new athletic passions such as; race walking, dragon boating,
rowing and snow shoeing. As one of the founding members and
paddlers of Vancouver’s, “Gift of Life,”
dragon boat team she is not only proud of the team’s
athletic endeavours, but also their promotion of organ donation
and transplantation. She also has a love for the stage and
has been involved both on stage and behind the scenes in many
local theatre productions.
Margaret is an active board member with
the Vancouver Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and continues to
fight for a cure for this devastating disease. She is excited
to be working at the CTA National level as the BC representative
to help the CTA shape its future.
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Gaston Martin- Quebec Regional Director
Email: gaston
(@) txworks.ca
101 Rue Lavigne,
Repentingny, QC,
J6A 6B6
(450) 654-3786
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Orest Saskiw
- Saskatchewan Regional Director
253 Guelph Crescent,
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7H 4P9
Residence:: 306-374-7476
Email: orestsaskiw
( @ ) txworks.ca
Orest received a heart transplant on February 6, 2000. He has been since able to take part in The Gift Of Games, every two years,in Edmonton, Windsor and now Quebec City. Orest has been involved as Saskatchewan Regional Director for last five years. Enjoys working with people and has volunteered in the region with different events,programs and fundraisers.
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