Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka
January 16, 2012
January 16, 2012
Dave Dillon, past District Governor, led the pledge of allegiance, and past Eureka Rotary President Bill McAuley gave the invocation with a very appropriate quote from Martin Luther King Jr., “Faith is taking the first step even if you can’t see the staircase.”
Guests of Rotarians
Scott Guild introduced Anthony Stubbs, a colleague with Aalfs, Evans, and Co. McDonald’s restaurant proprietor Jesse Klair’s guest was his nephew Happy Dhesi (inventor of the Happy Meal?).
Visiting Rotarians
Lee Cunningham, who is barely a visiting Rotarian to our club with her frequent attendance here.
Student Guests
None
Exchange Students
Our Brazilian exchange student Marina Ferreira Rocha Campos from Brazil went home after Christmas apparently due to homesickness. She left us a nice letter thanking us for the opportunity to be a Rotary exchange student.
Birthdays
Bob Morse (8th), Neal Carnam (10th), John Gierek Jr. (19th), Dale Stockly (23rd), Chris Freeman (25th), David Hull (25th), Glenn Goldan (27th), Corky Cornwell (29th).
Anniversaries
None to speak of.
Announcements
Our president held up a cartoon of a red badger—and badgered the “Red Badgers” to transform into “Blue Badgers” as soon as possible. Following are opportunities to get this done. Wednesday January 25th noon at Sea Grill the 1923 Committee meets. Also, the Membership Committee will meet next week after the regular meeting next Monday 23rd of January.
Recognitions
Dan Heinen was fined for having a grandson over 20 inches long and over 9 pounds big!
Jesse Klair was fined for remodeling his Arcata restaurant in the span of 25 days. The kitchen is back and McDonald’s is once again cooking with gas; he was fined $50 each for three restaurants and he added an extra $50 to make it an even $200. Thanks Jesse.
Bill McAuley’s son Ross returned from deployment just before Thanksgiving. Ross stayed at home for a month and now is in Hawaii. No fine for son deploying (parents of deployed kids pay every day!). But, Bill went to Hawaii to see Ross and that cost him $50 and earned him a Paul Harris pin.
Dan Price was fined for traveling to Boulder Colorado to perform nuptial vows for Kevin Sampson and Stacy Savianno, even though it was last July and strictly in the line of pastoral duty. Kevin is the son of former Eureka Rotary Club member and College of the Redwoods president Cedric Sampson.
Program
Chuck Edwards introduced our speaker for the afternoon, Nyle Henderson. Nyle has been a tireless worker with a bone marrow donor program called “Be the Match,” perhaps better known through Nyle as “Project Share Life.” Nyle is also a past president of Southwest Eureka Rotary and a Paul Harris Fellow. He speaks all around the county and country to reach not only minds, but also hearts, with the message that donors are needed to give life to those in dire need of bone marrow. Leukemia, lymphoma and Hodgkin’s disease are diseases that hit people every day, every year of every station of life. Son Steve was a single father ... Life was good until in 1987 he became ill. By February he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. At Stanford the best doctors were consulted to help Steve. Radiation, chemotherapy and finally bone marrow transplant were all tried to no avail. He went into remission for about five years. But in 1996 he became gravely ill with a deadly and aggressive disease called myelodysplasia. Steve’s only chance was to get a bone marrow transplant, but his sister was not a donor. Chances of getting a donor through the registry at the time were only 20%, but a donor was found. The transplant took place immediately--but Nyle still felt the troubling effects of knowing how many patients die for lack of a donor.
Since 1997 Rotary districts 5130 and 5170 have raised over $250,000 toward bone marrow donors. This gives 20,000 extra chances to those who want to live, according to Nyle.
Today there are over 9 million potential donors and there is an 80% chance of finding a matching donor. Still, even today one in five will not find a suitable donor. Nyle says this is unacceptable. More donors are still needed to up the chances of those stricken with cancer and other deadly diseases. Minorities are far less likely to find a donor than Caucasians—so the message of taking fifteen minutes (or more) to help save a life needs to be taken to all communities and every race. Donating for a bone marrow transplant is much like a blood transfusion: risks are minimal, discomfort is minor and there are no long-term effects to being a donor. Nyle mentioned that given Rotary’s history with such campaigns as Polio Plus, Rotary is the logical organization to get the job done for bone marrow donors.
For those interested in helping or becoming a potential donor, see “Be the one to save a life!” says the brochure. You can do so by logging on to www.marrow.org or calling 1800 MARROW-2.
Nyle concluded with stirring stories of two young ladies who had diseases that threatened their lives from an early age. Today they are doing fine. One donor named Jeremy was a police officer from the other side of the country from tiny Hannah Donahue. Jeremy was thankful to God for his opportunity to make his sacrifice on behalf of Hannah’s life. Eyes were wet as we watched and listened to many stories of lives saved and at times--lost.
Respectfully Submitted,
Dan Price
No comments:
Post a Comment