When Erik Sauer was diagnosed with Leukemia in 2008, his family members were not a bone marrow match. However, a 19-year-old woman, Isabel Hagen from Germany, was a match for Erik. Erik had no knowledge of who his donor was until the fall of 2010. At that time, Erik and Isabel started communicating by letters and e-mail, despite a slight language barrier.

Erik met his donor for the first time on September 27^th, 2011, when Isabel landed at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport. Erik said, “I have so many emotions inside me about my visit with Isabel. This young woman saved my life and never even knew me. I was excited, happy and nervous all at the same time. It is because of Isabel’s generosity and selflessness that I am alive today and created There Goes My Hero Foundation.”

Isabel spent the better part of a week with Erik, his wife Lisa, and their two children Ian and Joey. Isabel took a whirlwind tour of the East Coast with visits to Baltimore, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Boston, and New York City. Erik commented that “Isabel is like the little sister that I never had!”

While visiting the area, Fox 45 took interest in Erik and Isabel’s story and conducted a brief interview with the two of them. View the Fox 45 interview here.

Leukemia Blog and Cancer Support

From a cancer survivor:

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED

Statistics aren’t necessarily instructive. Every case is unique.

Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.

Diarrhea and vomiting are as bad as they seem. They’re worse when you’re hallucinating.

Staying positive and not succumbing to depression is worth the effort.

Taking a shower with an IV pole is not easy but it is possible.

Try to do as many things as you can by yourself.

Trying to figure out “why me” is an unsatisfying endeavor.

Miracles happen. Pray. Have faith.

Constant complaining doesn’t help your case.

Sleep deprivation is as annoying as anything.

Keep your chin up. Don’t surrender.

Important things are simple but sometimes simple things are hard.

Nothing worth having is easy.

Trust your gut. The first decision is usually best.

If the enemy looks like it’s retreating, it may be regrouping.

You will experience most of the potential side-effects.

Wear your regular civilian clothes instead of the hospital issued smock and slippers. Be comfortable and pretend things are normal.

Chemo sucks. More chemo sucks more. The impact is cumulative.

Don’t use a bedpan if you can avoid it.

No question you can survive more than you think.

Expect to be subject to routine medical indignities.

Not everyone including family and friends knows how to react, what to do or what to say. Some people will avoid you. You’ll be surprised.

You will be the beneficiary of incredible kindness, care, concern, help, prayers and love. It will come even from unexpected sources.

Good things happen to good people. But bad things too. And good things to bad people. It gets confusing.

Be nice to the nurses. You see them more than anyone.

Nurses avoid the grumpy, nasty, mean patients.

Ask the doctors questions. Don’t allow them to be vague. Know what’s going on.

Don’t box yourself in with sweeping threats or crushing self-doubt.

Love your primary caregiver.

Know that the doctors will try various treatments if they need to, which is another way of saying they don’t always know exactly what to do.

Turn your worries over to God. He’s up all night anyway.

“We were thrilled to see our first university drive be a great success,” said Erik Sauer, There Goes My Hero Chairman, founder, and leukemia survivor. “Targeting young donors is key,” he continued.  There Goes My Hero (TGMH) urges young people and minorities to “swab a cheek. . .save a life” by joining the bone marrow registry. “It is especially important to increase the number of young adults and ethnically diverse donors between the ages of 18 and 55,” he concluded.

People from an ethnic minority background are especially needed to join the registry including American Indian, Asian, African-American, Hispanic or Latino and mixed ethnicities. “U.S. minorities are underrepresented in the bone marrow registry,” pointed out Jorge E. Castillo,  Vice-President of the Board of Directors. “It is also harder to find a perfect match because of the complex genetic variability that occurs within minorities. To that extend, we urge all minorities to register and possibly save someone’s life,” he added.

The foundation is also working with Michigan State University and Morgan State University to create a similar bone-marrow drive with a concert theme and plans to spread this concept throughout universities in the U.S.. The Morgan State University event is scheduled to kick off in Spring 2012.

There Goes My Hero Foundation is actively recruiting college interns. As thought leaders, the foundation also has a collaborative service program with Loyola University Maryland.  Mrs. Stephanie McLoughlin, a board member and affiliate professor at the university’s Joseph E. Sellinger School of Business and Management, has given students an opportunity to tackle business questions and come up with marketing strategies using TGMH as a case study. “By giving students the opportunity to work on a marketing problem with the foundation, students are being exposed to real world problems  and can immediately see how they can make a difference in someone’s life,” she explained.

TGMH will have a bone marrow registration booth at their next event “A Taste for Life”  scheduled for Thursday, February 23, 2012 from 6:00-9:00 p.m..  The event will feature Single-barrel bourbon, hors d’oeuvres, limited-edition beer tasting, fine wine and the best view in Baltimore.  All proceeds benefit There Goes My Hero Foundation.

Purchase your tickets online at http://theregoesmyhero.org/events/2012-taste-for-life/

$50 in advance, $65 at the door.

For more information call Terry Weigel, Executive Director at 410-299-1422.

Ravens Fans Tailgate, Celebrate, Donate

There Goes My Hero Foundation, a Baltimore-based non-profit whose mission is to register bone marrow donors, provide nutritious meals for leukemia patients and their families and to raise money for blood cancer research, registered bone marrow donors at the Gameday Warehouse this Sunday, November 20, 2011, just before the Raven’s home game against division rivals the Cincinnati Bengals.

Although the bone marrow donation procedure is not happening today, Ravens fans at the Gameday Warehouse are in essence committing to donating their bone marrow if a match is found. “Today, like in many other bone marrow drives we have put together, we are simply swabbing the cheek,” said Terry Weigel, the foundation’s Executive Director.  The samples are then sent to a lab where scientists attempt to match donors and blood cancer patients who are in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant.  The foundation will be at the Gameday Warehouse during the tailgating celebrations every Raven’s home game to register bone marrow donors and to continue to spread the word about the importance of the international bone marrow registry.

“It was because of a young 18 year-old German donor that I am here talking to you,” said Erik Sauer, There Goes My Hero founder and the foundation’s board chairman.  “If it wasn’t for her kindness and for the fact that she “got swabbed” I would have not had another chance at life.”

A bone marrow transplant gives leukemia and other blood cancer patients a second chance.  “There is unfortunately a lot of misinformation out there,” Sauer pointed out.  “If you were to donate your bone marrow today it would most likely be like donating blood.  Your blood is collected, spun in a centrifuge–where hematopoietic or blood forming stem cells separate from other blood components–and then returned to you.”  This procedure is known as the Peripheral Blood Stem Cells Donation and it is not a surgical procedure.  Another procedure, known as the Bone Marrow Donation Procedure, is less common.  The Bone Marrow Donation procedure is a surgical procedure and it takes place in a hospital.  The donor is anesthetized so he feels no pain.  During the Bone Marrow Donation doctors use a needle to withdraw liquid marrow from the back of the donor’s pelvic bone. The marrow will replace itself completely within 4 to 6 weeks.

There Goes My Hero urges young people and minorities to “swab a cheek. . .save a life” by joining the bone marrow registry.  “We’re actively recruiting people between the ages of 18 and 55, but it’s especially important to increase the number of young adults and ethnically diverse donors.” said Jonathan Haupt, another recipient of a bone marrow transplant and leukemia survivor who serves on the foundation’s board of directors.  “People from an ethnic minority background are especially needed to join the registry including African-American, American Indian, Asian, Hispanic or Latino and mixed ethnicities” he concluded.

A bone marrow drive will be hosted at the Gameday Warehouse during most Ravens home games and other There Goes My Hero Events, including the upcoming Music for Life Benefit Concert at Towson University on December 9, 2011 from 5PM to 9PM.  For more information, visit http://theregoesmyhero.org/events/music-for-life-benefit-concert/.

The venue, PAWS, located in the University Union is the ideal place for students to dance the night away while listening to their favorite local bands rock out on stage. The two headliner bands are Fiction20Down and Jesters of Kindness. Opening for them is a Blues band Cool Hand and the Swagger and a solo musician, Jimmy Solesky, who puts his own style into the current Top 40.

The Music for Life Benefit Concert is being organized and promoted by Towson University senior Amanda Friedberg, who is completing a Mass Communication internship with the nonprofit. Amanda has been working alongside Terry Weigel, the Executive Director and Event Coordinator of There Goes My Hero, to build this campaign from the ground up. There Goes My Hero partnered with Towson University organizations, Phi Beta Sigma and Alpha Omicron Pi.

There Goes My Hero has been fortunate to get sponsored by several local companies including Towson University, Marshall Swagger Presents, Klassic Sound, Suitcha T-shirt Design, DKMS bone marrow donor center, and several food vendors.

The Music for Life Benefit Concert will be held at Paws in the Towson University Union from 5PM to 9PM and is open to the general public. There Goes My Hero hopes to accomplish its goal of registering 500 people on the night of the concert.

Stay tuned for the band reviews and other information about There Goes My Hero and the Music for Life Benefit Concert!

The lead guitar player of Fiction 20 Down, Justin Berdeguez’s, has been matched with a leukemia patient.  He was registered last year.  Because of him, a leukemia patient will have hope of surviving this terrible disease.  He will be telling his story during our Polo Match Event this Sunday, June 5th at the Grounds of the Maryland Polo Club

I regularly speak with a woman in Hershey, Pennsylvania, who has a leukemia diagnosis and has been the recipient of a bone marrow transplant .  I connected with her last week and found out that she is now having her second transplant, after relapsing a short time ago.  From our dialogue she took a look at the Hero website.  She made a donation to the foundation as she entered into the 2nd Transplant… Incredible that she thinks so much of what we are doing and took that time, that money, at that moment in her life…  It certainly says something about her and it say something about our mission: “To restore hope to Leukemia patients and their families through increasing bone marrow registrants, providing nutritious meals, and supporting blood cancer research.”

So join us at the Polo Match.  You will be inspired and will be able to enjoy gormet food, great drinks, fine Polo and family fun.  All of this while you help us continue to provide HOPE to those fighting leukemia and their families.

See you at the grounds!

Event is sold out but if you want to volunteer let us know!

Remember: $1600 can provide meals for 10 blood cancer patients and family members for 1 month, 3 meals per day.

On June 5th, 2011 There Goes My Hero will host the 3rd Annual Polo Event at the Maryland Polo Club grounds at Ladew Gardens.
This has been the significant fundraiser for Hero for several years now, raising over $50,000 in two seasons. Guests come from up and down the East coast. There will be Polo, live music from Fiction 20 Down, gourmet picnic cuisine, full bar, and auction. As in past years, the event is kid friendly. Children can attend free of charge with their parents who make donations to Hero. Please contact Hero if you are interested in attending or volunteering.

Erik Sauer
Chairman of the Board
There Goes My Hero

http://theregoesmyhero.org/events/polo_match/

Thank you for visiting the There Goes My Hero blog. A near goal of There Goes My Hero is to broaden our exposure and introduce our mission to new groups of people everyday.

I started Hero after a leukemia diagnosis in 2008, a two year fight with many rounds of chemo, and finally enduring a bone marrow transplant. My bone marrow donor was a young woman from Germany, she was 19 at the time. That is why it is so important to involve young donors in the process–the younger they are, the better chances of the transplant being a success.

2 1/2 years after my transplant and 2 years after the inception of There Goes My Hero Foundation, we are doing amazing things. First, we have registered bone marrow donors throughout the region and continue to do so. Second, we are working with Johns Hopkins and Moveable Feast to provide meals to blood cancer patients and their families as they endure the lengthy treatments. Currently, we assist 10 people per month, with three meals per day. Social Workers at Hopkins identify the patients with need, Movable Feast delivers the meals and There Goes My Hero funds and orchestrates the initiative. It costs $1600 to feed 10 patients for one month.

Look for continued dialogue through this blog. Next week I will detail the upcoming 3rd Annual Polo Match.