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Bone Marrow Doners, Photophersis Machine

The gift of the medicine magi

By Judi McLeod
Monday, December 5, 2005

If there is one meaningful thing Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty can do this Christmas, it is to give the residents of his province the gift of life.

To deliver the gift of life for Christmas, McGuinty doesn't have to conquer Mount Everest or face much of anything else by way of hurdles. Relief would come automatically if only the premier would dust off something called the Photophersis Machine.

In storage for five years, the photophersis machine is collecting cobwebs on the 14th floor of the world-renowned Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto.

The all-important machine temporarily removes a patient's blood from the body, separates out the white-blood cells and then exposes them to ultraviolet light. The photophersis machine has been used on heart and lung transplants, as well as many of today's autoimmune diseases.

Donated to Toronto in 2000 by its U.S. manufacturer, the machine didn't cost the provincial government, the hospital or Ontario taxpayers a penny. It is unlikely that the american manufacturer knew its gift would be kept in storage for five long years.

It was only two months ago that it even came out that the machine was sitting unused at Princess Margaret Hospital.

Knowing that Ontario last year spent $1.6-million, including hotel costs to send gravely ill patients to the United States to receive photophersis, when the same treatment is available from a machine collecting dust in downtown Toronto, is heartbreaking for the families of patients who need the treatments.

Some patients found MPP Dwight Duncan eager to contact the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care about the possibility of getting the machine up and running. Health officials told his office that if the hospital submits a proposal they would consider funding the treatments.

But Duncan's office ran into a dead end when staff got through to the hospital only to be told that the photophersis machine can't be expected to be in use any time soon.

Catherine Zahn, acting chief executive officer at the three-hospital University Heath Network–which includes Princess Margaret–confirmed that the machine was donated in 2000 in support of a clinical research project that was never approved.

"We don't have the funding to carry out trials or for clinical operations," Dr. Zahn told the Globe and Mail.

But as www.donorcorner.com points out "neither has the hospital with the machine ever asked the Ontario Health Ministry for a budget to run it." This is a fact confirmed by both Dr. Zahn and Dan Strasbourg, a ministry spokesman.

Taxpayers expect to find bureaucracy present in government buildings, but when bureaucracy gets to share a hospital bed with patients who need treatment from a machine already there but not hooked up, bureaucracy becomes a tragedy.

Few know this more than Ron Giles, an autoworker who hails from Windsor, Ontario. Giles is an unrelated bone marrow donor of Tom Garrett.

The autoworker first met Tom in July. Tom hugged him and said thank you because he had only had three weeks to live if he didn't find a donor.

Tom has been suffering with Graph Versus Host Disease (GVHD). His body is covered 90% with open sores and, sadly he has to be separated from his two sisters while receiving treatments in Calgary.

Giles, who'd be the last to ever admit to it, is the unsung hero in this story. With Tom now able to get his treatments in Calgary, Giles made up his mind to get the machine dusted off at Princess Margaret,

His website (www.donorcorner.com) was launched to make the public aware of the marrow bone list and to get the photophersis machine up and running.

anyone reading this story can go to the website and find a letter that can be faxed on to Premier McGuinty, their own MPP and in fact, all of the MPPs.

It only takes a few minutes of your time to help Ron Giles, whose one-man crusade to help Tom and so many others, has grown into a small determined army.

Premier Dalton McGuinty: Hooking the photophersis machine up for patients who need it is a Christmas present that comes back to you, for a hooked up photophersis machine for Ontario is a Christmas present to remember for a lifetime.


Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com


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