Courtney Koostachin had already overcome the odds by the time she was five years old.
By then, she had already underwent three liver transplants.
Doctors told her parents that her body might reject her liver before she was 10.
She defied those odds by living well into her teens. However, the odds finally caught up to her.
Koostachin, a 17-year-old Fort Albany resident, died in a Toronto hospital Nov. 18.
Only two weeks prior, Fort Albany, Attawapiskat and Peawanuck residents hosted a 30-hour fast to raise funds to help pay for medical costs and other expenses related to Koostachin’s treatment. They raised more than $30,000 in pledges.
Connecting through Skype, she told the fasters that she would never give up.
Despite her medical conditions and an immune system that made her susceptible to infection, the teen has led a relatively normal life until her recent relapse in which her body rejected her liver.
Koostachin was in Toronto awaiting a liver transplant for at least four months when she died.
Friends and family honoured Courtney by reposting a quote on Facebook, in which she said,
“Can’t go far, but you can always dream.”
Her parents Alexandra and Daniel Koostachin had been staying in Toronto and were with her at Sick Children’s Hospital.
Ontario Native Women’s Association executive director Cora McGuire-Cyrette enjoyed participating along with National Chief RoseAnne Archibald and W
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