May 7, 2025

Cristina Howorun: Chasing the Story and a New Kidney

Cristina Howorun:  Chasing the Story and a New Kidney

Sarah Burke speaks to award-winning investigative journalist Cristina Howorun about her career and experience with kidney disease.

Host Sarah Burke interviews Cristina Howorun about her journey from traffic reporter to award-winning journalist at City TV, despite her health challenges. Cristina discusses kidney disease and her experience getting a kidney transplant which eventually began to fail. She finds herself going through the same search to find a living donor as she faces kidney failure again. Cristina emphasizes the importance of mentorship and support from other women in the industry, and she highlights her commitment to investigative journalism and social issues.

More About Cristina Howorun:

After earning a Master’s degree in Political Studies from Queen’s University and working for the federal government, she answered her true calling and became a journalist. Cristina earned a degree in Broadcast Journalism from Ryerson University while flying around in a helicopter delivering traffic reports for a variety of radio and TV stations. After graduating, she worked as a Political Affairs reporter for CTV News Windsor and CTV News London before landing at CityTV in Toronto.

Cristina has covered every election since 2008, she’s been embedded with the troops in the Mojave Desert, tracked down a suspected terrorist in Libya, exposed shocking levels of abuse and negligence in long-term care homes and shined a light on the dangerous living and working conditions in Ontario’s jails.

Six years ago, Cristina received a lifesaving kidney transplant from her cousin- but in 2024 was once again diagnosed with end stage kidney disease. She is currently on dialysis- but has not let that stop her from continuing her passion for journalism, story telling and has even completed several specials and a documentary while undergoing life-sustaining therapies. She has several projects on the go, and her latest documentary “My Fake Billionaire Boyfriend” is expected to premiere on CityTV by early summer.

https://www.instagram.com/howorun/

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