Of all the hard-hitting docs at Hot Docs (The Canadian International Documentary Film Festival) this past year, I was most affected by 65_RedRoses. Directed by young filmmakers Nimisha Mukerjil and Philip Lyall, 65_RedRoses tells the story of Eva Markvoort , a 23 year-old girl from Vancouver who has been battling cystic fibrosis for her entire life. The audience becomes privy to the trying process of waiting for a lung transplant, and is taken inside the operating room to watch as a young woman fights for her life.

I’m not sure if it is because I’ve grown up with asthma that I can somewhat relate to the feeling of breathlessness – and am ashamed at how flippant I’ve been looking after myself. Or maybe it’s because Eva could so easily be one of my friends – or if I’m simply overwhelmed by her tenacious spirit – but this film deeply moved me. Eva continues to pop up in my mind every so often, even though I first saw the film last spring.

The documentary starts off in the hospital, a second home for Eva. She zooms through the halls riding her IV machine like a skateboard and sparks life into the drab surroundings. Although extremely fragile, her vivacious spirit beams and is contagious with the team of hardworking medical professionals at her side. In her bed she has a teddy bear and laptop to help her get through the daily struggle of coughing up mucus, taking heavy meds and all the while glancing at her transplant pager that reminds her that she’s been waiting months.

65_RedRoses is Eva’s online name that she uses in a chat room to converse with other young girls afflicted with cystic fibrosis. Not able to have a regular social life, and eager to connect with others fighting the same fight, the CF online community becomes extremely important for Eva to maintain strength. The doc highlights two relationships in particular, Meg and Kina, two other girls just entering their twenties, who are faced with the potential of death due to CF complications. The online forum is the only way that fellow patients with this disease can connect, as if they’re brought face to face the potential of contracting a super bug from one another is severely high.

After nine months, Eva’s transplant pager finally goes off and she is rushed in for emergency surgery – a double lung transplant. Not an easy surgery, there is a great chance that she won’t survive. We watch as she hugs her siblings and parents, without whether or not she will wake up in a few hours.

This is the real Grey’s Anatomy, as we see up close the procedure of transferring in the new set of lungs. If you have not signed up to be an organ donor, this is possibly the most persuasive scene that will urge you to do so.

65_RedRoses reminds us that life is precious. Beautiful young Eva is truly captivating and inspiring – you will be emotionally rocked as you follow her heroic journey.

Check out 65_RedRoses tonight at 10pm EST on the CBC.