When phoning Toronto City Councillor Jane Pitfield, her constituency office manager Vanessa Rose asked to speak of a personal matter. "My friend, who is half Estonian (mother's side), half Czech, has leukemia, needs a bone marrow transplant and thus far has drawn a blank from family and the millions of people in the bone marrow registry. There is a possibility that people of the same ethnic background could be a match but we need their kind co-operation very quickly."
"Ylona (Doederlein) has left Princess Margaret Hospital, where she was a patient for chemotherapy and now goes for out-patient treatment. She is getting weaker, she needs help fast," adds Rose.
If one is between the ages of 18 and 50, the procedure is fairly simple initially, you call 1-888-2 DONATE and the people will go through the procedure. You can also get information from the website
www.canadianbloodservices.com "It must be noted that when one enters the registry, anyone is going to be eligible and that person will be anonymous, " said Beverley Campbell, Director of Donor Registration. She adds, "The procedure takes some time, so time is of the essence."
"Ylona is a dear friend, one of five of us who have chummed around for quite a while. She is a single mother of two, early twenties and senior teen. Ylona is 53 years old, who has worked as an airline stewardess and was once a Miss Toronto," said Rose.
When Rose speaks of Ylona one can feel the strong emotion in her voice. It is the fear of losing a close friend, someone with yet many years of life remaining, someone who has children to mentor into adulthood and then grandchildren to spoil.
Please help.
