Bid to boost bone marrow registry
Volunteers can sign up with stem cell and bone marrow groups
An annual run honouring a late Canadian hockey player is working with a bone marrow and stem cell registry group in hopes of helping more people in her name.
The Run for Mandi is named for Saskatchewan hockey player Mandi Schwartz, who was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in 2008 while she was part of the Yale Bulldogs hockey team. She died in 2011.
The event kicks off Sunday afternoon at River Landing. The five-kilometre run and the one-kilometre “family walk” will start at 2 p.m. and for the first time a bone marrow and stem cell registry group will be set up at the run.
Mandi’s mother, Carol Schwartz, said she’s proud of the work being done in her daughter’s name by the Mandi Schwartz Foundation.
“It just makes these events more meaningful ... lives are being saved,” Schwartz said. “There’s probably no greater gift than meeting someone who got a successful match.”
The OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network, a part of Canadian Blood Services, will accept registrations at Sunday’s event. Schwartz said they’ve handed out information before, but this is the first time OneMatch will “swab” volunteers at the event to register them in the network.
Bobbylynn Stewart with Breck Construction, the title sponsor for the event, said she has a personal stake in helping organize the run because her mother also died of acute myeloid leukemia.
It’s a chance for the company and the community to help other families with similar struggles, she said.
“When you have a blood cancer or disorder, often times you are relying on a stem cell match through the network,” Stewart said. “So growing that network is vital.”
Alongside the run will be a charity silent auction and a barbecue. Mandi’s brothers, professional hockey players Jayden and Rylan Schwartz, are also expected to attend, along with NHL players Ryan Murray and JC Lipton, and AHL player Brandon Gormley.
Erica Honoway, scheduled to speak before the run, said she is haunted by how close her family came to sharing in the Schwartz’s tragedy.
Her son Lincoln was diagnosed with aplastic anemia last year, but a bone-marrow transplant helped save his life.
“In all the registries in the world, they found two matches for Lincoln,” Honoway said. “Every single person who gets on is another chance for someone to have their life saved.”