I saw @Leaferbyblood on Twitter yesterday urging people to go get their cheeks swabbed to help somebody out with their fight with leukemia. I'll let him take it from here, but go help somebody out this weekend instead of laying around drinking a case of beer and waiting for the hockey season to start. Maybe your good karma will transfer to our luckless hockey club.
Tony Coscarella is a Toronto Police Sergent who is currently in the fight of his life. Since being diagnosed in November with Leukemia Tony and his family have gone through the rigors of chemotherapy and treatment. He now needs a stem cell transplant for a chance at a full recovery. Tony is not alone, there are over 900 Canadians and thousands worldwide waiting for donors. The only good thing about this type of Cancer is we as a population can do something about it. We can make people aware and get them to register with their national stem cell registries by sending in a cheek swab. The more people who register, the better the chances at finding a match everyone. For those concerned about donating, fearing that it is a painful surgery, in most cases it is no different to donate than giving blood.
On Saturday, August 20th in Woodbridge, Ontario OneMatch will be hosting a swab event on behalf of Tony and 3 other local individuals waiting for their match. It runs from 9am - 9pm and will be held at 9541 Weston Rd, The Vaughan Cultural Interpretive Centre.
For those of you whocan't make it to the event, or that do not live in the area you can still help. You can order a swab kit online and still join the registry. Visit www.onematch.ca if you are in Canada or www.marrow.org in the US to order your kit and for more information about stem cell donations.
For more information on Tony visit www.jointonysfight.com, www.jointonysfight.tumblr.com and follow on twitter at @JoinTonysFight.