Slowly but surely

The total is creeping up, a little bit every day. A friend of the family has just pledged $100, which increased my current total by 33% in one fell swoop! This is my second $100 donation so far, which is awesome. :)

We're at 20% of my goal! w00t!

I am going today to pick up more donation tins, which I shall be passing out at Tarasmas this coming Saturday (tomorrow! Egads!).

Thank you so much to everyone for your ongoing support! Please continue to spread the word. Together we can make this happen!

Bone Marrow Registry: Drive in Toronto

I have been remiss.

My friend kino_kid's brother Emru received his bone marrow transplant on September 16th, ten days ago today. The fight is far from over: even after the critical first 100 days, the road ahead is going to be long and hard. That being said, Emru now has a fighting chance: his odds of survival are much, much higher than if he'd never received the transplant.

If it weren't for the Bone Marrow Registry, a matching donor would never have been found, and Emru would never have received his transplant. Most of you probably already know by now that ethnic minorities are vastly underrepresented in all the registries world-wide. Being of the same ethnic background significantly increases the chances of a match. You can still be a match if you're not of the same ethnicity, of course, which it is why it is primordial for everyone who can to register to be a potential donor.

Bear in mind that even if you can't donate blood in Canada, chances are you can still be a bone marrow donor. Please inform yourself if you thought before that you wouldn't be accepted and never tried to register.

It is a sad fact that there are no bone marrow drives in Canada, the way there are in the United States. That being said, some American organizations do sometimes come to Canada in order to host drives here. This is what's happening this Sunday.

Here is what kino_kid has to say on the subject:


OneMatch, Canada's stem cell registry, is hosting an on-site swabbing event on Sunday. At least 200 people need to register for this to be considered a success. There will be on-site staff to answer questions and educate the public.

Date: Sunday, September 28, 2008
Time: 11:00am - 3:00pm
Location: The Tagore Centre
Street: 140 Millwick Drive
City/Town: Toronto, ON

Here are my suggestions to help make this event a success:

Already on the registry? Tell people you registered!
Too old to register or otherwise ineligible? Get more informed on the issue and spread the word!
Thinking of registering? Get the proper documentation to dispel myths and talk to your friends and family. Staff from OneMatch will be on-site at Sunday's event. Ask lots of questions and get the facts! If you want to swab right away, you'll be in the right place!
Are you a photographer, videographer or sketch artist? Record this event and then show people your work.

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What does it all mean?

I've gone on the record saying that I am in disbelief that Canada does not run bone marrow drives. If you have ever seen a drive recently in Canada, it is a US organization, such as Gift of Life, that runs drives, and anyone who gets swabbed is placed on the US registry. Further complicating issues, Quebec has a different method of sample collection, so many people figure they will wait until they can swab, and that opportunity may not occur again in a timely fashion, as it is uncertain when an out-of-country drive will next be organized in a given city.

This event could be a critical turning point in reaching more Canadians on this issue. If you live in Toronto, tell your friends, and make sure to encourage them to tell others about it.

My supervisor is awesome

My direct supervisor is made of win.

He hasn't been back 24 hours from his business trip to Québec, and he's already taking my fundraising campaign nation-wide. The people from Public Relations have already been by to take my picture (funny how when *I* went by they patted me on the head and sent me on my way), and I'm going to be in the RCMP "news" and the online intraweb news thingy.

I am considerably more sanguine about my chances of raising $2,000 by the end of next month now. Between my awesome friends and my supervisor, as well as a couple of family connections, I think my odds have increased significantly.

Pressure Tactics

It turns out that if you stand bodily in front of a police officer and wave a pink collection tin at them, they suddenly go all sheepish and put money in the tin.

Win. :D

Official Photo

Here is the photo that Public Relations took of me. It's about to be spread all around the RCMP. Yikes!

As toughlovemuse suggested, it features my silken locks. All 17 inches of 'em.

( Cut to spare your friends' page )

*squee!*

I might have Real Live Mounties in complete dress uniform with me when I get my head shaved.

SQUEE!

Last post of the day: fundraiser update

A few more generous donations, and we are at over 25% of our goal! Some of the money is still "pending" of course, but it's all from people I totally know are going to come through, so yay! Also, I know for a fact there are several people who are going to donate but haven't told me how much yet, so I haven't even factored those into the latest total yet.

I have nine shiny new collection tins to hand out tomorrow (my supervisor snagged one for his wife's office), and now I have other people at the office shamelessly bullying others into donating. I will also be bringing one to Mélange tomorrow if I can manage to get there.

My boss (not my supervisor, the guy one level up) has issued a challenge to the supervisors: whatever amount they give me next week, he'll double it. So if they give me $20, he'll give me $40. I really, really hope they decide to add to their totals next week. Heck, if they each give me $20, that'll net me $120 in one fell swoop.