Transplant patient.
Born at Caliento on 24 March 1924, one of ten children born to Helen Stefiuk (1902-1993) and Matthew Michael Sportak (1892-1944), she received her education there, found work at Winnipeg for a time, and helped her mother on the farm.
In 1949, she married Wasyl “William” Kuzyk (1916-1998) and moved to his farm at Oakville, where they raised their three children. In 1971, Mary became the recipient of one of Manitoba’s first kidney transplants at a time when odds of survival were very low. Thirty-two years later, in 2003, she was honoured with the unique distinction of being the longest living kidney transplant patient in the world.
She enjoyed gardening and was a member of the Ukrainian Catholic Women’s League. When she and her husband retired in 1990, they first lived in Portage la Prairie, then moved to Winnipeg.
She died at Winnipeg on 7 December 2005 and was buried in the Hillside Memorial Park.
Obituary [Helen Sportak], Winnipeg Free Press, 22 September 1993, page 25.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 9 December 2005.
Mary Sportak Kuzyk, Porosky-Stinson Family Tree, Ancestry.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 9 February 2022
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