CORNWALL, Ontario – Members of the Cornwall and SD&G community have paid tribute this past week to a local organ donor advocate and young community leader Myles Lynch. Lynch passed away on the morning of Friday, Dec. 31, 2021 after a lifelong battle with Cystic Fibrosis. He was 24.
“The world lost a bright light this morning 
. Myles Lynch was a fighter, three-time double lung transplant recipient, advocate for organ donation and an important member of our Cornwall community & CHEO family. He was also wildly intelligent and extremely funny….an inspiration to all who had the pleasure of meeting him & one who kept his nurses on their toes (especially with his classic startle attacks on night shift lol)! Sending all my love and condolences to the Lynch family 
Thank you for allowing me to be a small part of yours and Myles’ journey. Please join us in honouring Myles life and sign up to be an organ donor,” reads a post made on Facebook by the Dream Maker Productions account.
Lynch made history when he became the first Canadian to receive three double lung transplants in his lifetime. He had received his first lung transplant at the age of 17 after his lungs deteriorated due to Cystic Fibrosis, and then two more due to chronic organ rejection.
In 2020 Lynch began working with Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry MP Eric Duncan to push for the creation of a national organ donation opt-out program.
“In my case, I was fortunate enough to have had 3 organ transplants over the last 5 years, but for every exceptional case like mine, there are many others whose time runs about before a good match can be found. I felt it important for me to try and do whatever I can to help many more, and the creation of a national opt-out program could save thousands of lives per year for generations to come,” said Lynch in 2020.
In 2019 260 Canadians died while waiting for an organ donation.
Lynch also had a passion for travel and art. In 2019 he created his own feature length film about his travel across Canada to Golden, BC, that summer titled 8 Thousand Myles.
Dozens of tributes poured out from his friends and family on Lynch’s Facebook page after his passing, paying tribute to him as a friend as an advocate for organ donation.
Lynch chose to donate his body to the University of Toronto in the Department of anatomical research for medical science.
Those who wish to become an organ donor can register on through the province of Ontario.
