Ron Giles - Give Bone Marrow

I am Ron Giles. I strongly believe in Pay it Forward. I try to do my part in paying it forward because I want to make this a better world. If you read this then please go and do a nice thing for 3 people and ask them to do a nice thing for 3 people. Thanks I was a bone marrow donor to a young teen Tom Garrett. When I met him, it changed my life forever. I will give you a brief story as what I do and what I am involved in. I am now an advocate for the Bone Marrow Registry and spend a lot of time promoting the bone marrow registry. After I met Tom, he still needed medical attention and my brother Frank and I help with him because he had to go out to Calgary. 140 000 dollars was raised for Tom to get treatments called Photopheresis. When he was in Calgary, we found out there was a photopheresis machine in Toronto hospital that was collecting dust. We did a major campaign and had petitions signed. There is now 2 machines in Toronto, thanks to many people that got behind us, including the major unions, CAW, CUPE, etc. Then Frank and I went on to help a young man Uzo Azuh, his background was from Nigeria and he had leukemia and needed bone marrow. Uzo was going through to be a doctor and he passed away before he found a bone marrow donor.

Frank and I wanted to do something that would get world wide attention so that many people would sign up on the bone marrow registry and minorities wouldn't have to die before they found a bone marrow donor. We held an event and called it Camp 4 Compassion. We wanted to do something that was unique and that would appeal to all tastes and walks of life. We wanted to get everyone together and let them have fun, while they learned about the bone marrow registry , in a non intrusive way. The first year was a succuss and we decided to form an organization called Better World Today Association, that would continue on with our dream, and our Camp 4 Compassion. We are now holding a yearly event and this year's event is held July 18th, 19th and 20th 2008. If you ever been effected by cancer or know someone that has or would like to have a fun weekend, full of entertainment and sporting events then come on out. You can camp for the weekend or just come out to the events . If you would like to volunteers or you can perform then please let us know. givemarrow@hotmail.com or 519-991-4919 We met Dany Mercado a 24 year old man from Kitchener that needed bone marrow. His parents came to the camp in Leamington, Ontario and ask us to help them. We went to their home town and met up with them and decided we would help them. The first thing we did is to get a hold of NMDP in USA and teamed up with them to hold bone marrow drives in US. We held the first one in Detroit at St. Annes church because they don't do drives in Canada and over 150 people signed up. We held another one and made awareness for the registry and because of Dany we have signed up, over 1700 people on the registry. After a few months of knowing Dany he came out of remission and he needed a bone marrow transplant asap. The only problem was that there wasn't a perfect match for him. He got a second opinion at Karmanos in Detroit and they told him to get a mis match transplant. This is where the donor isn't a perfect match and it is very risky . It costs over 200 000 dollars and at the time they didn't know if OHIP would pay any of it. They knew that they needed the money upfront, before they would start anything. We made a decision to fundraise for them and we raised over 50, 000 dollars and OHIP agreed to cover the rest of the cost. It was great to see that we could make a difference in someone's life. This is why we do what we do because when you see that it gives you a great feeling. Our goal is to bring World Wide attention to the bone marrow registry and we need your help. We want to inter react with the public and the media to do this. Please tell your local media about us and the event we are having this summer. There will be many great things that will come out of this years Camp 4 Compassion. Cancer touches everyone.s life some how and we need to be ready for it, if we need a bone marrow transplant. It is better to be pro-active and get people to sign up on the registry. The life you save could be your own or someone that you know. I am challenging everyone to Pay it Forward (Bone Marrow style) pifbms Have 3 of your friends sign up on the registry and then have them get 3 of their friends to sign up. It won't take long to get millions of people this way and word of month is the best. Then have them send me a email. givemarrow@hotmail.com

To be continued

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If there is anyone that wants more information on how to get on a list or want is involved then please e-mail me. Click here to see what is involved in getting on the marrow list, and how they take the marrow out.

After you get a bone marrow transplant there is a 30% to 50% chance you will get Graph Versus Host Disease. It is when the bone marrow attacks the body. The one treatment they have been using is called Photopheresis and it is helping a lot of people. The only places in Canada that the treatment available, is in Calgary and Vancouver. There are many people in Ontario that are suffering and never get the photopheresis treatments because they don't want to spend the money to send them out. The one gentleman in Toronto has GVHD and here is his comments.

"My present physical situation (November 2005) is as follows. I am in constant pain as a result of the tightening of the skin around my torso, neck and thighs. Open lesions come and go at will at the back of each armpit causing excruciating pain. The tightening and resulting scar tissue has restricted my mobility and movement of my arms. My breathing is restricted as a result of the tightening of my torso and with every breath I take I am reminded of my illness. "

This is the reason I am trying to fight so hard to get a machine here in Ontario. I believe that if you have read my thoughts then if you walk away and do nothing, then it would be like walking away and doing nothing when you see someone drowning and you hope someone will help them. Well guess what, if everyone is hoping that someone will help then nothing gets done. If everyone does a little than a lot gets done.

I started a website on Tom Garrett in July when I met him to give updates on Tom and get him treatments. He needed treatments and the government wasn't paying for them because it was out of Province. They finally agreed to pay for them after the media events. Now we are trying to put pressure on the government thru the media to get the mothballed machine running. If you can help then please let me know.

Ron Giles
(519) 991-4919 Windsor, ON
(519) 513-1050 Kitchener, ON

givemarrow@rongiles.ca

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Last Modified: November 21, 2007