Taking things for granted is a way of life for all of us when we are young and healthy.
How many of us have seen the ads for blood donor clinics; heard the, “It’s In You To Give” mantra; thought about what a good idea it would be to share a litre or two of our life-flow with someone else; and then gone right back to our daily business?
Sergio Galido was one of those people until what sounded like a simple procedure to remove a tonsil turned into a nightmare last year that ended with a diagnosis of leukemia.
The 51-year-old Lisgar resident spent too much of last year in Princess Margaret Hospital, having several transfusions, the first of which did not take. Patients having cancer treatments can require up to eight units of blood a week.
Galido said this morning that one of the images from his time in the hospital that remains etched in his memory is the sight of so very many patients, lined up on Mondays and Wednesdays to receive blood transfusions.
“When you see so many people lined up it makes you wonder, how did the get all this blood to be transfused... and this is just one hospital,” said Galido. “I am truly grateful to those blood donors,” he said in his quiet voice. “If not for them, a lot of people, including me, would not be alive today. So I say thank you to all those who donate blood. They do it with a very compassionate heart. When you think that they don’t know the people they are donating to, it is even more honourable.”
The married father of two, who has lived in Mississauga since he came to Canada from The Philippines in 1990, has beaten his leukemia for now. “I’m okay now. I’m in complete remission but to ensure a future healthy life, I really need a bone marrow transplant. It could come back at any time, in two years or 20 years.”
Since no match was found from his six siblings, Galido is hanging his hopes on the Unrelated Bone Marrow Donor Registry. Problem is that there are almost no Filipinos registered in that registry with Canadian Blood Services, which severely reduces the likelihood of a match.
That’s why his wife Lea got in touch with Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board Trustees Esther O’Toole and Luz del Rosario and she got in touch with Canadian Blood Services. Now the all-call has gone out to the GTA Filipino community for a blood clinic and marrow registry booth to be held Friday from 2-7 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at Erin Mills Town Centre.
Galido sounds almost nonchalant as he says the chances of a match are “very slim.”
His family are more sanguine, a hopeful word which has its roots , interestingly enough, in the Latin for bloody or blood red.
Daughter Kristine, 16, in a piece she wrote to help encourage people to come out to the clinic this weekend, describes the brutal shock of her father’s illness.
“My world came crashing down and I’m sure the worlds of my loved ones did the same,” says the St. Francis Xavier international business student. “I’ll never forget the look in my Mom’s eyes when she said, ‘Dad’s got leukemia.’ I can’t even count the days I spent trying to sort it all out in my head.
“For six months, he battled the vicious beast that was cancer and won… for now. Now he really needs a bone marrow transplant to keep the fight going. We worry every day about how it’s going to happen. I love my Dad very much and I want him to be around for a very long time. I graduate from high school next year and sometimes I even wonder if he will be around for that. It makes me wretched with sadness when I think of it.”
If you know anyone in the Filipino community, please encourage them to take a few minutes from their busy lives this weekend to make what could be a life-saving contribution. A lot of people lining up at Credit Valley Hospital or Princess Margaret or Trillium Health Centre next week will thank you for it profusely, even if you never hear their words.