“I’ve always wanted to do something to raise awareness for organ transplants,” Baker said. “I asked my teacher if we could possibly do an assembly or something to get it out there.”

Baker’s teacher, Melissa McLean, became the key organizer of the day, but said it was really Baker’s enthusiasm and positive attitude that made it happen.

“She’s never been about how hard it is for her, she’s always with a positive outlook hoping that good things come to those that wait,” McLean said.

And this bubbly young woman is anything but down in the dumps. In fact, you can hear the upbeat skip in her voice as she describes her experiences at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto: “My rehab ladies are amazing,” she gushes; her friends and classmates at school (“I was really nervous… but they’re pretty understanding,”); and her unfailing hope for  receiving a transplant (“When you hear one friend gets a transplant, you think, ooh maybe I’m next!”).

Baker wants to convince people to register as organ donors. She was inspired, she said, when she saw a YouTube video of another young Canadian, Hélène Campbell, doing the same. Campbell has since been featured on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, and has had a successful double lung transplant.

Baker describes seeing Campbell’s video as being very emotional.

“I cried,” Baker said. “I just thought, ‘yes, something’s going to happen. I can feel it.’ ”

Baker and Campbell became friends through their transplant co-ordinators and bonded over their dependence on oxygen tanks.

“We used to call each other the ‘breathless babe sistas,’ ” Baker said with a giggle.

Baker and her mother, Susan Tremblett, are aware of the serious nature of Baker’s condition.

“It is scary, because there are a lot of risks that are involved with it,” Tremblett said. “We worry about rejection, (and) if she doesn’t get a new set of lungs. You hear the good and you also hear a lot of the bad.”

Tremblett said helping to promote organ donation has been a great focus for her family.

“I’ve always (supported) organ donation,” Tremblett said. “I think God has led us this way. He knows that we can’t take our organs, and if you can save someone else, why not do that?”

The transplant awareness day at Baker’s school involved presentations by Baker and Carol Dubeau, a former Catholic school teacher and principal, a registered volunteer with Trillium Gift of Life network and a recipient of a double lung transplant herself. She said that she and Baker are almost like book ends — showing that the need for transplants is widespread and affects people of all ages. She also said she represents a happy ending to the journey Baker is on. 

“I think it’s really important for (the students) to see the after picture, as well,” Dubeau said. “The children really need that kind of positivity in that organ and tissue donations do work.”

McLean said the students really took away meaning from the day.

“The reaction … was really positive,” she said.  “They were really intrigued and wanting to know a bit more. They really took the information that they gathered from the presentations and from that were able form some more questions.”

Tremblett hopes her daughter continues to promote awareness for organ donation throughout her life, but most importantly, is healthy.

“I know that when she does get her lungs, she’s going to honour them every single day,” Tremblett said. “I hope that she becomes a healthy individual. I just want her to be a healthy, happy person.”

For now, Baker is focused on going to school as much as she can in preparation for graduation day.

“She has said, ‘I’m not going to have a transplant on my graduation day,’ ” Tremblett said with a laugh. “ ‘They can put these lungs on ice!’ ”

To become an organ donor, visit beadonor.ca.