I’m continuously amazed at the generosity of people that live in the Elk Valley. No matter how often they get requests for help everyone constantly pulls together and come through with what’s required to help those in need.
Right now there is a group who is raising awareness for Tania Wallman, a young woman needing stem cell donation.
Tania’s story is very compelling, a year ago this month her son, daughter-in –law and child were in a vehicle accident that tragically claimed her son’s life, left his wife in ICU for months and his little girl waiting with strangers until Tania could go pick her up, says niece Raven Leigh Garlock.
The family was still struggling with this loss when a few months later Tania was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblast Leukemia. She is currently on chemo therapy maintenance as she waits for a match on the stem cell donor list.
This illness came on so suddenly that Tania didn’t have time to give notice to her employer, to prepare or save money for treatment accrued expenses. Her family and friends want to support Tania “emotionally, physically morally and financially” and want to raise $10,000 to get her through the transplantation process. Their goal is to give support and also to “create awareness about stem-cell donations, what’s required and to know what they can do to help those who are left with their lives totally and utterly dependent on the kindness of complete strangers”.
Raven, Cathy Follett and others are doing the best they can to get the word out. They have a website filled with information, organized bake sales, donation jars, barbecue, posters, and started an awareness campaign of information about stem cell donation. On top of that on March 11, from 5:00 -8:00pm members of the Hosmer Fire Department will be “shaving their heads in support of their fellow firefighters.” Happening at Extra Foods you will also be able buy burgers and drinks, Hosmer Fire Department T-shirt, Hats and Toques, bid on silent auction items and watch as female and male heads of full hair gets shaved for a really good cause. On May 14 a family head shaving, blood donor and stem cell swab clinic is happening at Bishop O’Byrne Senior High School in Calgary, Alberta from 9:00am -1:00pm. The family will be making a donation to the Canadian Blood services to be used with their One Match Stem Cell and Marrow Network. They say they’re doing this because since they “will be relying on a complete stranger to save their sister’s life , we want to pay it forward and help as many people as we can who are waiting for the same thing”.
Raven says the “community needs to stick together in order to pull through times like these, just knowing someone’s behind you gives you the strength to pull through. It’s hard to lose your hair, because that’s what makes you feel like a woman.” Raven speaks from the heart about needing the kindness of strangers, two years ago when she was about to deliver her baby she suffered two heart attacks. Critical, the family was told a heart transplant was required and she was taken to Edmonton to wait for the first one available. She was given a one percent chance of survival but miraculously she survived the first night and the next and slowly her heart got better and started beating on it’s own. Now twenty, Raven says she “grew up pretty fast during this time, the support, the donations meant the world to me, all the help, they made the difference”.
Anyone between the ages 17-50 can join the donor list, call 1-888-2DONATE, the family says “you don’t have to be a doctor any more to save lives; you can be someone’s hero just by donating your stem cells!”
In 1978 our daughter was diagnosed with kidney disease caused by strep throat. After six years of trying every natural and medical treatment possible she received a kidney transplant from her father. The night before the transplant was to take place her kidneys stopped and doctors worked on her for five hours before she was revived. My family rushed to hospital, I recall how my distraught husband managed to make his way down the three floors by elevator holding on to the IV pole with one hand and sides of the open hospital gown with the other. It was an incredibly emotional time but God intervened and the next morning my oldest daughter and I had the privilege of first accompanying Nick down to the surgical floor and then going with Pina. Arriving there we noticed a row of people on stretchers lining the wall of the waiting room, as the orderly pushed Pina by we noticed a hand waving, it was Nick. We pushed the two beds together as close as possible so father and daughter could touch hands and say they loved each other before being placed in adjoining rooms where surgeries where performed simultaneously. In 1983 when we were first told Pina needed a transplant there was not one person that I could speak to that had experienced this. Today transplantation is an everyday occurrence; here in Fernie we have several people with kidney transplants, pancreas /kidney, heart / lung and even stem cell/ bone marrow.
Our family had to remain in Calgary for several weeks as it was imperative that Nick and Pina stay close to Foothills Hospital in case of emergency. Flowers, cards, food and expressions of support were overwhelming. We were fortunate that Nick was able to take time off with pay from his job so we managed without needing financial support from family or community. Being able to assist anyone in need is a very kind and thoughtful thing to do. Please come to Extra Foods on March 11, to support what the Hosmer Firefighters are doing for their friends.
