Katie Chong is a very positive, motivated, determined and driven grade-12 student at Bishop Tonnos High School in Hamilton-(Ancaster), Ontario. She is on the honour role, is president of the Student Council, and is involved in many extracurricul...
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12 Upjohn Road, Unit 5A
Toronto, ON M3B 2V9
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National Volunteer Week
It's the National Volunteer Week this week - we want to thank each and everyone of our AMAZING volunteers who have helped save more lives by increasing the number of Chinese registered stem cell donors in the Canadian registries from 2,100 to over 20,000 in less than four years!
We need your support again in the summer drives. Please stay tuned for the opportunities ahead!
18-Year-Old Patient Katie Chong
Katie Chong is a very positive, motivated, determined and driven grade-12 student at Bishop Tonnos High School in Hamilton-(Ancaster), Ontario. She is on the honour role, is president of the Student Council, and is involved in many extracurricular activities, including athletics, ‘Me to We’, ‘Best Buddies’, and the school musical. She is an accomplished piano player, a piano teacher, a lifeguard/swimming instructor, a runner, an alter server, a camp councillor and volunteer. In her spare time she is learning to play the ukulele, the guitar, the melodica, and to ride a unicycle!
This past September, Katie’s mother, Chris Beck, and Katie decided to do a recreational run together. They normally would complete 10 km, but on that day Katie was only able to run a city block before being too fatigued to go any further. With concern, Chris had her checked out by their family doctor. After completing a check-up and tests, Katie was diagnosed with ‘Myelodysplastic Syndrome’ (MDS) and the only cure is a bone marrow transplant. She has three siblings who were all tested and found not to be a match; they all matched each other, but not Katie. MDS can progress to life threatening Leukemia, so finding a match with Katie is urgent. Because she is of mixed ethnicity (Asian/Caucasian), a match is more difficult to find as 77% of the Canadian Registry is Caucasian. A shortage of ethnically diverse volunteers exists. The target age for potential donors is between 17 and 35, and anyone in this target age would be a welcome addition to the registry; currently there are over 900 Canadians looking for a match. Katie is one of them.
Katie was constantly active prior to being struck with MDS. The illness causes pronounced fatigue which has cut her activities in half; although she tires easily and is struggling a bit, she never stops trying to keep up, to function at a fairly high level. When her cell counts drop too low, she is treated symptomatically with blood transfusions.
