Stories: Canadian Blood Services

The first annual #DonateForDustin golf tournament raised $17,000 for Canadian Blood Services.

Earlier this month, Jack Uger celebrated his 90th birthday surrounded by nearly 100 of his closest family and friends. A longstanding ambassador for Canadian Blood Services, Jack has been involved with the organization since 1984, first as a blood donor with the Red Cross, and most recently as a clinic volunteer.

It all started with a sharp pain in Vinesha Ramasamy’s left knee. An x-ray revealed a mass. As her oncologist put it, it was “the worst case of high-grade osteosarcoma” he’d ever seen. At 15 years old she was diagnosed with bone cancer.

It all started while walking to the bus stop one morning four years ago. The air was brisk, and the sun was bright in the sky. After just a few steps, Tom was out of breath and feeling dizzy. He thought it was probably nothing but decided to get checked just to be safe.

Every year, hundreds of Canadian patients need life-saving stem cell transplants, and most rely on the generosity of an unrelated donor.

Blood cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in the world with hundreds of Canadians requiring a donor for a stem cell transplant each year. Only a fourth of patients in need of blood stem cell donation will find a donor within their family – the rest will rely on a complete stranger to save their lives.

Abby is seven years old and for the next 18 months, she'll receive treatment for precursor B lymphoblastic lymphoma, a type of cancer. Read her story from her dad Drew's perspective and see how financial donors and blood transfusions are part of her story.

Sharon Bulger can still remember the feeling of the air being completely sucked out of her lungs, when she learned her eight-year-old son Cameron had brain cancer.

Canada’s newest Jeopardy! champion is a Toronto man who was recently honoured by Canadian Blood Services for his 100th donation of platelets.

Like most parents, Jessica vowed she would do everything and anything she could to keep her new baby happy and healthy, once she entered the world.