Cancer affects us all, both directly and indirectly, not to mention personally or to family members or friends who are close to you. Let's face it ... it's a horrible disease, no matter what it type it is, where it strikes and to whom it strikes. Although medical research and technology has allowed new innovations and treatments that have improved survival rates, the battle to conquer cancer still rages on.
The following two stories, which have appeared in my Grapevine column in the West End Times this week, deal with cancer ... one who survived it and another who needs our help so that she can get on the road to recovery and survival. I hope you find these stories inspiring, give you hope, and hopefully take some action in the war against cancer. Thank you very much.
______________________________________________________________________________
Ten years ago,
William Brock was living a charmed life.
He was a successful
lawyer for a major Montreal law firm, married with a son and a daughter. He was
an avid photographer and every summer, would go on a kayaking trip with several
of his close friends.
However, on
September 21, 2004, William Brock’s charmed life came to a crashing halt.
Earlier that month,
he went to the hospital complaining of chest and back pains, and was told it was
more related to acid reflux than anything of a serious nature. When he returned
from his annual kayaking trip (this time to Alaska), he felt constantly
fatigued. He made a appointment at the Jewish General Hospital and on September
21, received the diagnosis of Acute Leukemia, with a critically low white blood
count of 500 (which meant he had no immune system). He immediately went through
two chemotherapy sessions, which resulted in complete remission.
However, in January
of 2005, Brock went into a relapse, and nothing short of a bone marrow
transplant could save him. He underwent that transplant on February 5 of that
year and after a two-year recovery period is now cancer free.
Since his ordeal with
leukemia, Brock has dedicated himself to launching initiatives that helps
advance the cause of finding new treatments for blood cancers, including the
establishment of the Fund for Research and Education. For his efforts in the
fight against cancer, Brock will receive the Community Service Honorary
Fellowship Award from the Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) during its 36th
annual gala, which is taking place on April 9 at Place des Arts. The gala will
feature popular American comedians Paul Reiser and Rita Rudner, who will
perform in a two-person comedy show called “He Said, She Said”.
Last Monday, Brock
spoke to a grade 11 biology class (which studied cancer and cancer cells as
part of their curriculum) at LaurenHill Academy in Ville St. Laurent (where he
graduated in 1971, when it was known as Sir Winston Churchill High School). He
related to the students his experiences dealing with Leukemia, how he survived,
and the lessons he learned during his ordeal.
“Illness and cancer
are not linear. Things don’t happen in a straight line, because there are
always speed bumps along the way,” Brock said. “If you think it can’t get
worse, it gets worse.”
He also credited
the diligent research by his wife Maryse that led to them finding Montreal’s
Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital as one of the major bone marrow transplant
centres in the world, which is where he underwent that much vital transplant
procedure.
“When I got that
bone marrow transplant, it was ‘Day Zero” for me. It was the first day of the
rest of my life,” he said.
While he was
undergoing his recovery, Brock wondered what he was going to do next, besides
returning to his law practice and re-establishing his daily routines. To
celebrate his fifth anniversary of being cancer free, he went on a 35-day
cycling tour of Europe that took him from the coast of France to Hungary.
Another project he
undertook dealt with his passion of photography. In July of 2010, he began to
compile stories of different Leukemia survivors (including former Montreal
Canadiens captain Saku Koivu) and photograph portraits that captured them in
their element that they wanted to best associated with. The end result was
“Portraits of Hope”, a handsome 208-page coffee table book that tells the
stories of these selected survivors in words and pictures. The book – which is
available in both English and French -- is distributed free to cancer patients
in different Montreal area hospitals, and is also sold as a fundraiser for $60
a copy. He presented
a copy of the book to LaurenHill Academy, and will available in the school’s
library.
Brock concluded his
presentation to the students by offering seven distinct lessons that he learned
during his successful battle with Leukemia: cancer doesn’t have to be the end;
cancer strikes without warning, so do something you really want to do; learn
how important family and relationships are; your body is important; be
proactive; science is real important because science saves lives; and cancer
helps you understand the fragility of life.
For more
information about the ICRF and its upcoming gala on April 9, go to www.icrfmontreal.org. For more information about William Brock’s
book “Portraits of Hope”, go to www.portraitsofhope.ca.
* * *
During his
presentation last week at LaurenHill Academy, Leukemia survivor William Brock
urged the students that he was addressing to be more proactive. In particular, he
urged them to register themselves at a bone marrow donor bank.
On April 3 and 4,
those students and many others will get that chance to urgently help save a
life at a special bone marrow registry drive that will be taking place at three
separate locations in Montreal.
The person who
needs our help is Jayden Emerson Roll, a four-year-old girl from Montreal who
was recently diagnosed with MDS, a very rare disease that unfortunately
develops into Acute Mylodysplastic Leukemia. In order to help stem the
progression of this terrible disease, Jayden would require a bone marrow
transplant. And now the call is going out to anyone who is between the ages of
18 and 60 and is in general good health to help Jayden and see if they are a
match. All that is required of anyone who attends the drive is that they will
get swabbed, which takes only a few seconds. As well, the eligible donors have
to meet the required guidelines to be part of the registry, and are willing to
donate their bone marrow not only to Jayden, but also to any other patient at
any time around the world.
This special bone
marrow registry drive will take place at the following places and times: the Hall
Building of Concordia University, located at 1455 de Maisonneuve Boulevard West
(11 a.m. to 4 p.m.); the Ben Weider JCC, located at 5400 Westbury Avenue (4
p.m. to 9 p.m.); and the Richard J. Renaud Science Complex of Concordia
University, located at 7141 Sherbrooke Street West (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.). For
more information, contact Stephanie Kligman at kligstephanie@hotmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment