The woman who died when a tree fell on her outside the Ottawa Hospital during last week’s violent storm has been identified as Hiba Yusuf.

The 37-year-old suffered multi-system trauma and was rushed to hospital where she later died.  

Yusuf was a double transplant survivor and an advocate for organ donation. Friends and family said she was leaving the hospital after a doctor’s appointment when she was involved in the tragic accident.

“Hiba was a wonderful person, she was very loving, very compassionate, and definitely passionate about organ donation and saving people’s lives,” said Imam Mohamad Jebara, who worked on an organ awareness campaign with Yusuf in 2014.

CTV Morning Live interviewed Yusuf and Jebara at that time about the importance of donating.

“I received a transplant in 2012… and I’ve very lucky to say it’s going very well,” Yusuf had said.

Jebara said the pair were childhood friends, and reconnected to spread awareness about organ donation, as well as to create more acceptance in the Muslim community.

“They have concerns from religion point of view, and what we wanted to do is to show – here’s a young Muslim who is practicing and is benefitting from being a double transplant recipient,” Jebara said.

Yusuf’s younger brother was the first person to donate his kidney to his sister back in 2000. He said it lasted eight years.

Yusuf Yusuf said there was a service for his sister over the weekend. He said the family would always think of her, and was focusing on putting their lives back together.

Yusuf received her second transplant in 2012 from a young woman who passed away.

“We are saddened to hear about the passing of Hiba Yusuf. Hiba was an extraordinary advocate for organ and tissue donation, and a voice for those on the transplant waitlist,” said Ronnie Gavsie, President and CEO, Trillium Gift of Life Network

“We hope that those close to her and who knew her can take some small solace in the fact that her passion and advocacy helped bring attention to this important cause.”

On her Facebook page, Yusuf posted that she was a former junior research technical at the Kidney Research Centre at the Ottawa Hospital.

In a statement, a former colleague said ““Hiba loved working in research and always wanted to become a scientist. She certainly contributed to many of the studies in my lab and she played a major role in several discoveries,” wrote Dr. Rhian Touyz, former scientist at the Kidney Research Centre of The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa.

Dr. Touyz added that Hiba’s finding would hopefully be pushing soon in her honour and memory.