Kirsten Diane MacDonald, 57, lived with ALS for four years and refused to give in to the euthanasia climate.
(LifeSiteNews) – A beloved Canadian pro-life heroine has died, leaving a husband, the daughter she conceived naturally in her late 40s, and her indelible witness to the sanctity of life.
Kirsten Diane MacDonald (née Harty), who lived with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) for four years, died in her sleep on December 19. She was 57.
Kirsten’s widower, David MacDonald, wrote a tribute to his late wife on the Lifefunder page originally set up to assist with the expense of her care.
“Kirsten passed into eternity this morning peacefully in her sleep at 6 am,” he wrote. “She made her entire 4-year ALS journey completely drug free, and yet God preserved her from the kind of suffering we feared. Thank you for your prayers. She is a successful example against the culture of Euthanasia.”
ALS is often referenced by assisted-suicide activists as an example of a disease that should be “cured” by a medically induced death. After her diagnosis, Kirsten refused to give into suicidal thinking, deciding instead to show that suffering can be meaningful. She and David, a professional musician who has often performed at Canada’s National March for Life, published videos showing Kirsten living with the disease and renewing their wedding vows with the help of the eye-tracking computer she eventually used to communicate.
Kirsten went to sleep for the last time after a visit from five sisters from the Queenship of Mary community who, David said, “drove 4 hours (each way) from Ottawa to pray with her.” Her funeral was celebrated on Saturday, December 28 at St. Mary of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church in Huntsville, Ontario.
Almost a decade earlier, Kirsten MacDonald was a living witness to the sanctity of unborn human life. Married in 2011, she became pregnant only in 2015, at the age of 48, after a profound spiritual experience while on pilgrimage to Częstochowa, Poland. Kirsten had breast cancer but refused any treatment that might have harmed her unborn baby. Instead, she opted for surgery with just a local anesthetic. Her baby, Adessa, now an 8-year-old, was born perfectly healthy.
Adessa can be seen singing to her mother in this touching video.
David MacDonald has asked for prayers for his grieving daughter.
An online obituary for Kirsten states that the late pro-lifer “will be remembered for her unwavering faith, her deep love for her family, friends, and community, and for her inspiring courage in the face of life’s greatest challenges.”
