GROWING UP WITH KAT Will Fan and his two siblings, Kat and Laurence, grew up in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia in an immigrant family with humble beginnings. Growing up in this environment, Kat took on great responsibility and became the ultimate big sister everyone could rely on. As a kid, she’d proudly escort her little brothers on hour-long train rides to and from school while also making sure her brothers had yummy snacks for the long journey. As an adult, she got her l

In 2018, B.C resident Jordan Knodell got a call from the Canadian Blood Services while he was on vacation in Mexico. Seven years earlier, he had joined the stem cell registry. At the time, on the other side of the world, a man in England named Richard Potter needed a stem cell transplant. Turned out, this English man had a match. Someone who he had never met, living thousands of kilometres away in another country was going to save his life. I was fortunate enough to interview

AN INTERVIEW WITH JOEL KOETTE Joel Koette, a Métis man from Kelowna, BC was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in April of 2018. I was lucky enough to ask Koette, now a registered nurse and leukemia survivor, a couple questions about his journey. WHAT CROSSED YOUR MIND AT THE MOMENT OF THE DIAGNOSIS? Joel: “I cried and headed straight to my family's home where my mom, dad, brother and his wife were waiting for me. I cried. Howling in agony while we all stood in a circle hu

ADAM KRIEF'S SEARCH FOR A STEM CELL DONOR A few years ago, I discovered Adam Krief's story on social media. Adam was a 31-year-old husband and father of 3 who had been diagnosed with Primary Myelofibrosis, a rare form of blood cancer. The only treatment that could save him was a bone marrow transplant. However, like me, he is a Sephardic Jew, and he could not find a match. I was incredibly touched by the Jewish community's response and how they immediately came together to he

LIKE MOTHER, LIKE SON MARK'S STORY: Heart-shaped boxes of chocolate, bouquets of long-stemmed roses, and giant teddy bears aside, Valentine's Day is about appreciating the people we love. This Valentine's Day, we want to recognize the special bond between Mark and his mother. Mark's mother is a nurse and has dedicated her life to helping people in need. Mark has fond childhood memories of accompanying his mother on her trips to donate blood. In addition to enjoying the bounty

QUESTION 1 HOW CAN YOU SAVE A LIFE? A. Being a doctor B. Registering as a stem cell donor C. Being a firefighter D. All of the above Answer: The answer is all of these! In fact, if you're a registered stem cell donor, there’s a 1-800 chance that you’ll donate stem cells and potentially save someone's life! QUESTION 2 HOW DO YOU REGISTER TO BE A STEM CELL DONOR? A. Signing up on Swab The World's website and ordering your swab kit online B. Donating blood C. You do not need to

HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT STEM CELL DONATION? FACT VS. MYTH: I was raised in the Jewish tradition to believe that “whoever saves a life, saves the world” (Sanhedrin 4:5). 🌎 I joined the stem cell registry, because it’s such an easy way to make an impact and potentially save someone’s life. 🥰 Since joining the registry, I was most affected by the factual ignorance surrounding stem cell donation. While doing my statistics assignment, I came up with the idea to post a questio

SOCIAL DISTANCING TIPS FROM A BLOOD CANCER SURVIVOR THIS ISN’T HIS FIRST RODEO: Most of us aren’t used to being stuck at home for days on end. However, for blood cancer patients, like Marc Normandeau, isolation and social distancing are nothing new. Marc was first diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia when he was four and relapsed twice in middle and high school. After Marc’s second relapse, the prognosis was clear – if he didn’t get a stem cell transplant, he would die

WHEN YOUR WORLD FALLS APART HORRIBLE NEWS: When you’re told your daughter has cancer, life comes to a standstill. Your reality shifts and you enter a world filled with uncertainty and constant worry. In a single moment, the “now” becomes unbearably heavy, tinted with colours we’d rather never have known. In a single moment, you are swept away by a tsunami of emotions, its power engulfing everything. In a single moment, your life changes completely, and you become a warrior, f

THE UNBREAKABLE BOND OF THREE FRIENDS IT TAKES THREE: We are three young women who are still young girls at heart. We spent countless hours talking while sitting on a bed in Trois-Rivières or at the summer camp we all attended. None of us were entirely well-behaved, and this was great for our early 20s. It seems so long ago now, chatting on the phone and twisting the curly phone cord in the middle of the kitchen. We were perfectly happy, our minds full of projects and dreams,

A WOMAN’S FIGHT AGAINST LEUKEMIA THE DIAGNOSIS: I had just powered through an intense month of development work in Benin, an impoverished country in West Africa. I kept telling myself, “you’re getting older, you’ve gained weight, you don’t exercise enough— that’s why you’re exhausted.” I came back home to Canada. As soon as I got off the plane, I headed straight to the doctor, then the hospital. That’s when I received the diagnosis: I had leukemia, and as a side effect, pneum

STEM CELLS? THEY’RE JUST CELLS THAT DON’T HAVE A REAL JOB YET. READY TO WORK: What are stem cells? Think of them as interns. Young, fresh and ready to work to the bone. One day, they’ll settle on a career and become highly specialized in what they do. But for now, they’re ready to take on any task you throw their way. And as we all know, interns are under-appreciated…until you get buried under an avalanche of work, and suddenly that bright-eyed intern becomes a saviour. The s

THE MOMENT I REALIZED I COULD SAVE A LIFE PARENTS WITH SICK CHILDREN: All the parents I know, including mine, would do anything for their children. Anything. A parent’s love for their child goes beyond any set of words I could string along in an attempt to describe it. What I can describe for certain, however, is the definite devastation in the pained expressions I have seen on the faces of the parents with sick children. THE PLEA SO FEW PEOPLE ARE REGISTERED: One day, severa

TO THE DONOR WHO GAVE ME A SECOND CHANCE AT LIFE: My Superhero You’ll never know who I am, yet you saved my life. You’ll never know who I am, yet you’ll be in my heart forever. You’ll never know who I am, but I know who you are. You’re my superhero without a cape, “my Englishman,” as I call you. I don’t try to imagine how you look like. It doesn’t matter whether you have blond, brown or no hair at all, or whether your eyes are green or blue. What I know is that you’re a great

A FAMILY’S UPHILL BATTLE AGAINST THE LACK OF HISPANIC BONE MARROW DONORS Julian's Life: Julian Morales is like many eight-year-old kids we know. He loves playing with his friends, watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and eating chocolate cake. However, there’s a catch – if Julian doesn’t find a bone marrow match soon, his life is at stake. At age three, Julian was diagnosed with a life-threatening disease called dyskeratosis congenita. In very severe cases, dyskeratosis con