Successful OneMatch Event and the Road Ahead

George Yioldasis

One Match Stem Cell Donor Awareness Event held at the Vancouver Hellenic Community Centre was a great success, with terrific music coordination from Mark Ferris and the Yaletown String Quartet

This was followed by Bouzouki Solo by George Yioldasis, and more Greek Music by Mousiki Parea, and then the Finale by Wanting Qu. Many new donors registered on the available computers, and One Match Reps answered lots of questions. Great Food, and good support from the community all round.

Mark Ferris(left) and the Yaletown String Quartet

Steve expresses appreciation for his family

My brother Andy Larigakis planned and coordinated the event, Claudia Ferris capably MC'ed and rest of family from both sides did a fabulous job of entertaining and informing the the community about this opportunity to save a life.

Mousiki Parea

Recording Artist Wanting Qu

Stem Cell Recipient and Cancer Survivor and Cyclist Rob Nagel and his mom--in-law

Gelato at White Rock Pier with Zoe & Caroline

This week is testing week, where I get poked and prodded to ensure I am fit to tolerate the procedure, and admission to VGH is Sept 8 with my transplant on Sept 14, which becomes my second birthday. I am told to expect to be in hospital for 4-6 weeks and not feel well enough to take visitors except immediate family.

It has been intimated that my donor is a young woman and I will take on her blood type and gender, so I told my daughter to hold me back if I get crazy with the shopping. She said, "Don't worry Dad, I'll just embrace it"

The Road Ahead

Remission Continues

It is now day 25 on my new medication and I am continuing to enjoy a clinical remission.  I am able to enjoy swimming in the pool and shopping at Costco. Simple things hold indescribable pleasure when they have been denied. Like my first road ride in 3 months when Todd came by:

 My medical team wanted to see a sustained remission prior to proceeding to stem cell transplant, and it looks like we have one, so things are being scheduled for admission to hospital in early September with a week of "conditioning" followed by my procedure in mid September.

I want to acknowledge the deluge of greetings, prayers, cards, books, and gifts that keep coming my way. Every single one of them is received with gratitude and love, and they have all contributed to getting me through to this remission and will carry me on to the next phase of treatment. A large basket of gourmet goods from the Peace Arch Hospital Emergency staff is one of the most recent, and was quickly consumed by family and teenage visitors.

I now see this disease as something that has temporarily occupied my body, and will soon be purged so that my family and I can carry on, much as before.

My chance at a cure for this lymphoma is only possible because of the generosity of an anonymous donor from somewhere in the world. The donor registry includes 300,000 people across Canada and 30 million worldwide. In order to raise awareness and increase the pool of available donors, particularly in the Greek community, my family has launched a donor drive through Facebook. Donation is as easy as giving a unit of blood.

And they have booked a OneMatch Cafe event at the St George's Greek Church Community Hall in Vancouver on August 24 from 5-9:30 pm. I am told the electronic traffic on the OneMatch site has increased 100-fold over the past few days.

Please see the links below:

OneMatch Poster

Facebook Event

"Clinical Remission"

After a fantastic retreat to Long Beach with friends, we have returned home with body and spirit renewed and good news. The new medication I have been on for the last 14 days has taken away virtually all my symptoms and we are cautiously using the term clinical remission. I have more energy and am able to get out and do things again like shopping and light gardening. It is my 4th line chemotherapy and was provided by special release from Ottawa at a cost of $10,000 per month, and appears to be my salvation.

The other good news is that I have been confirmed to have a match for my bone marrow transplant, and the procedure could proceed as early as a month from now. The response to the public OneMatch.ca has been phenomenal and I thank everyone who has participated so far and those who tried but were denied registry because of age (who says 50 is getting old?). The drive will continue, and although it may not now benefit me, it will benefit many others for years to come and will continue to raise awareness in the community.

                      As my doctor said to me last week, "We were all due for a break!"