As Camp 4 Compassion 2008 media events circulate we will
post them here...
Logan Moore needs our help...
Logan is 5 year old boy and the son of a Windsor Ontario Firefighter. He
has leukemia and will eventually need a bone marrow transplant. Please
share this with everyone because it will help get the word out about the
registry. In Canada go to
www.onematch.ca and US go to
www.marrow.org
He was the ambassador of Camp 4 Compassion put on by Better World Today
Association. It is a weekend of entertainment for the whole family.
Leamington man meets foreign 'hero' who saved his life
Gary Rennie, The Windsor Star
Published: Sunday, July 20, 2008
LEAMINGTON -- "What do you say to the person who saved your life?"
Local bone marrow transplant recipient
Chris LoDuca, left, met his donor from Germany, Manuel Raisch, for
the first time this past weekend. Raisch flew from Germany to meet
LoDuca. They are pictured together here Saturday, July 19, 2008 at
the Camp 4 Compassion near Leamington.
Photograph by : Dan Janisse, The Windsor Star
That question has been haunting Belle River's Chris LoDuca for almost
three years -- ever since he received a life-saving stem cell transplant
from an unknown donor.
This weekend, the Chrysler worker and father of two young boys got the
surprise of his life.
The Better World Today Association found LoDuca's donor in Germany and
flew him to Canada.
With the co-operation of LoDuca's wife Pam, it was kept a surprise until
the annual Camp 4 Compassion on a farm near Leamington that promotes
awareness of the worldwide blood and bone marrow donation registry.
LoDuca was told he had to be there for a belated 40th birthday party.
Instead, he came face-to-face with Manuel Raisch, a tall, bearded
27-year-old theology student from Wiesenbach who spoke little English.
"I was in complete shock," said LoDuca. "I was overwhelmed."
"Sitting next to me is a real hero," he said.
How many ways can you say thank-you? LoDuca can tell you all about that
now.
The tears quietly streaming down his wife's face perhaps said it best.
Diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia in 2003, LoDuca was perhaps
days away from death when the stem cell transplant was finally done in a
Hamilton hospital Sept. 29, 2005.
He'd been waiting for a match with a donor for about a year.
Even with the transplant, "they weren't sure I was going to make it," said
LoDuca. He found out later doctors rated his chances for survival at only
five per cent.
One of the complications in his recovery was an unknown allergy to
cyclosporin, one of the primary drugs used to prevent rejection of the
stem cells.
The procedure to remove the stem cells from Raisch was probably more
painful that the one that transfused them into LoDuca.
Speaking through interpreter Jennifer Ringeling, Raisch said his arms were
bruised and sore for several weeks after the extraction procedure in an
Ulm medical centre.
Drugs were introduced into his blood to coax the stem cells out of his
bone marrow. Then his blood was drawn from one arm, the stem cells
harvested by machine, and his blood re-injected through the other arm. It
was a five-hour ordeal, Raisch recalled.
The refrigerated, two-liter bag of stem cells was then flown to Hamilton.
The preparation for the waiting LoDuca included a high dose of
chemotherapy to kill the remaining stem cells in his bone marrow.
Raisch's stem cells headed right to the empty bone marrow to help rebuild
his immune system, LoDuca said. His leukemia is in remission now.
Meetings of recipients and donors aren't common even when both are
agreeable.
Those who manage the worldwide donor registry system like to wait a few
years to see how the recipient is doing before agreeing to links with the
donor, LoDuca said.
It could prove devastating to a donor to learn later the recipient had
died. Families of recipients might also have trouble relating to a donor
whose gift of life proved unsuccessful for whatever reason, LoDuca said.
Raisch hopes to become a minister when his studies are complete. He went
on the donor registry when he was working as a gardener and his employer's
son needed a bone marrow transplant.
Ron Giles of the Better World Today Association says there are still too
few donors in the registry, particularly from ethnic groups in this area.
The weekend festival in Leamington was expected to draw some 2,000 people
to entertainment, a car show, fashion show and dancing.
The association's goal was to spread the message about signing up for the
donor registry.
While there are happy endings like that of LoDuca to spread the word,
sadly others have not been so fortunate.
Windsor's Uzoma Azuh, then a 22-year-old medical student, died a year ago
of leukemia still waiting for a donor to be found.
Toronto Sun, Canada - Mon, July 21, 2008
I said 'Thank you' and gave him a hug and told him, 'You're
my hero'. " They spent this weekend getting to know each other
through an interpreter -- neither ...
FULL STORY HERE
Jul 21, 2008 ... an annual event put on by his Better World
Today Association to increase awareness about the desperate need for
bone marrow donors. ...
read more
The Better World Association is hosting its annual Camp 4
Compassion this weekend in an effort to promote awareness about bone
marrow donation and the national bone marrow registry.
Camp 4 Compassion is a camping weekend for the whole family that
features live entertainment, a car show, a fashion show, dancing and other
events.
Local cancer and leukemia patients who need bone marrow transplants
will participate and the organizers, Ron and Frank Giles, will use the
opportunity to educate others about the importance of being on the bone
marrow registry.
The camp is located at 708 County Road 34 in Leamington.
Opening ceremonies are Friday at 7 p.m. The camping fee is $20 per
night or $30 for the entire weekend, with a maximum of six campers per
site. Spaces are limited as more than 5,000 people are expected to attend
this year.
For those who don’t plan on spending the night, day
passes to Camp 4 Compassion are free. For more information or to register,
visit www.camp4compassion.com.
Windsor’s
Megan Renaud and Amanda Filbey, students at Holy
Names High School presented their civics projects with great esteem. The
pair chose to do their project on local charity Better World Today
Association, an organization that is determined to ensure that no man, woman
or child shall be deprived of a necessary Bone Marrow Transplant as the result
of a lack of donors on the World-wide Registry, by raising public awareness of
the need for Bone Marrow donors through Education; Special Events; Media
Involvement; Community Sponsorships, And Fund-Raising Efforts. Megan and
Amanda where well received with a 100% final mark on their project and a trip to
Toronto where they moved on to receive the $5,000.00 "Youth Philanthropy
Award" from Ontario Primer Dalton McGuinty on behalf of the Better World
Today Association.