April 17, 2025
Kathleen McGee died of colorectal cancer at age 43. She donated her eyes, restoring sight for one person. She’s seen here during a treatment session. Supplied.
Kathleen McGee was in her element on the comedy stage, and toured across Canada as well as in Los Angeles. Supplied.
Story by Su-Ling Goh | Video by Evan Isbister
EDMONTON — As an award-winning stand-up comedian, Kathleen McGee had the ability to see humour in any aspect of life. Even during her three-year battle with terminal colorectal cancer, McGee managed to look at the bright side — and ultimately had the vision to leave the gift of sight for someone else.
McGee’s comedy career began in 2005, performing in clubs across Canada and in Los Angeles. Adam Lampman describes his late wife as kind, generous, happy — and fierce on stage.
“There are very few comedians that I’ve seen … who could handle a heckler the way she handled a heckler,” says Lampman, with a laugh.
In 2022, the Edmontonian was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. The news came just six months after her brother, Oliver McGee, was diagnosed with the same cancer.
“Their family doctor was like, ‘Hey, this is pretty hereditary. You should get it checked out,’” recalls Lampman. “So she went and got it checked out and it was a similar mass, similar location (to her brother’s cancer).”
Over the next three years, McGee underwent surgery and chemotherapy, but the disease spread throughout her body. Despite her grim prognosis, she continued to make people laugh, incorporating her observations about having cancer into her shows.
“Within two weeks of her first diagnosis, she had jokes,” adds Lampman. “She just said, ‘You know what? This needs to be talked about … raise awareness, turn the filter off and don’t sugar-coat it.’
“Right up to the bitter end, she was doing (comedy) material that was very supportive to cancer patients, their families and healthcare workers.” McGee recorded her final comedy show three weeks before she died in the fall of 2024. She was 43-years-old.
Lampman says McGee had a few last wishes: take good care of her dogs, show her final comedy special at her funeral, and donate any of her organs or tissues to someone who needed them.
Her donation decision was inspired by her brother, who received a liver transplant during his cancer battle.
“Watching (Oliver’s) life get extended by the months and months and months that it has already by that gift (of a liver) – it makes you want to (register to donate) pretty darn quick,” says Lampman.
Shortly after his wife died, Lampman completed the consent forms and questionnaire required for her to become a donor. McGee was eligible to donate her eyes; her corneas have restored sight for one person.
Dr. Andreas Kramer, Medical Director of Give Life Alberta, says many people with terminal conditions don’t realize they can be eligible to donate tissues, such as eyes.
“Receiving a corneal transplant can have a huge effect on a patient’s quality of life when they have visual impairment,” says Kramer. “It can also sometimes reduce pain experienced by patients with certain eye conditions, and improve the appearance of a damaged or diseased cornea.”
Lampman says he and McGee’s friends joke that whoever received her eye gift will be seeing life in a whole new way.
“She had such a genuine care for people and wanted to be able to provide either life or a positive aspect of life to someone even when she wasn’t here … she literally saved the best for last.”
More than 500 people are waiting for life-saving transplants in Alberta. To register your donation decision, visit GiveLifeAlberta.ca.
