In September, the Delormes will be travelling to India with Randy to undergo the Liberation Treatment for Multiple Sclerosis. Keep coming back here to follow us and our adventure!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Innaugural blog entry!
This blog has been created to document the fundraising, travel, and surgery of Randy Delorme. Stay Tuned to follow us on our adventure!
My name is Randy Delorme. I was born and raised in Prince Albert and have lived here all of my life. I have a wife and a twenty-four year old son who now lives in Saskatoon. I spent fifteen years working for the Government of Saskatchewan, six years owning and operating a Buffet Restaurant here in the city, and am currently employed as a Safety Officer for Sask Rivers School Division.
In 2001 I was diagnosed with Secondary-Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. I soon found out that only 20% of people diagnosed with the disease have this type of MS and that there is no treatment for it. It is different from the most common type (which is relapsing-remitting) in that you don’t go into remission, (you just become steadily worse) and that none of the new MS drugs will work for you.
You can imagine my excitement when I heard the news that there might actually be a simple procedure (Liberation Treatment) that would halt the progression of my disease, or might even improve my condition. Unfortunately this procedure is not available in Canada and time is not on my side. I don’t have the luxury of waiting the 3-5 years it might take to get this procedure approved. In that amount of time, I may lose functions I will never get back, not to mention my quality of life and the time I will not get to have with my loved ones.
For this reason I have decided to go and get the procedure done in India. Unfortunately, like most people with a chronic illness, I don’t have the means to do it on my own and I must ask for the help of my community.
The cost of the treatment, the flight and the accommodations will cost approximately $20,000. My wife and my son will travel with me to help navigate the airports and handle the luggage, and to provide me with the love and moral support I will need while I am there. We have an appointment with Dr. Kumar in New Delhi scheduled for September 29, 2010. We checked out three hospitals in India and one in Poland and decided this was the best alternative.
To date we have raised on our own approximately $5,000. We have an event scheduled in Shell Lake for August 14th (giant yard sale) and a benefit concert and dance scheduled for August 21st in Saskatoon. We believe these two events will help us a great deal, but think we will probably still need additional funds to meet our goal of $20,000.
I have a good life and am very grateful that I am still able to do a lot of the things I have always done and that I am still able to work, even if only half time. All I would like is the chance to keep on doing these things and perhaps regain a few of the things I have lost. This to me would be a huge success. Some people that we know that have had the procedure done have shown great improvements and we would like the opportunity to give it a try and see if it will work for us. With your help and support this could become a reality. My family and I truly appreciate the efforts of those volunteers who have acknowledged our needs and stepped forward to work for the cause. Any contributions or suggestions would be gratefully accepted.
My name is Randy Delorme. I was born and raised in Prince Albert and have lived here all of my life. I have a wife and a twenty-four year old son who now lives in Saskatoon. I spent fifteen years working for the Government of Saskatchewan, six years owning and operating a Buffet Restaurant here in the city, and am currently employed as a Safety Officer for Sask Rivers School Division.
ReplyDeleteIn 2001 I was diagnosed with Secondary-Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. I soon found out that only 20% of people diagnosed with the disease have this type of MS and that there is no treatment for it. It is different from the most common type (which is relapsing-remitting) in that you don’t go into remission, (you just become steadily worse) and that none of the new MS drugs will work for you.
You can imagine my excitement when I heard the news that there might actually be a simple procedure (Liberation Treatment) that would halt the progression of my disease, or might even improve my condition. Unfortunately this procedure is not available in Canada and time is not on my side. I don’t have the luxury of waiting the 3-5 years it might take to get this procedure approved. In that amount of time, I may lose functions I will never get back, not to mention my quality of life and the time I will not get to have with my loved ones.
For this reason I have decided to go and get the procedure done in India. Unfortunately, like most people with a chronic illness, I don’t have the means to do it on my own and I must ask for the help of my community.
The cost of the treatment, the flight and the accommodations will cost approximately $20,000. My wife and my son will travel with me to help navigate the airports and handle the luggage, and to provide me with the love and moral support I will need while I am there. We have an appointment with Dr. Kumar in New Delhi scheduled for September 29, 2010. We checked out three hospitals in India and one in Poland and decided this was the best alternative.
To date we have raised on our own approximately $5,000. We have an event scheduled in Shell Lake for August 14th (giant yard sale) and a benefit concert and dance scheduled for August 21st in Saskatoon. We believe these two events will help us a great deal, but think we will probably still need additional funds to meet our goal of $20,000.
I have a good life and am very grateful that I am still able to do a lot of the things I have always done and that I am still able to work, even if only half time. All I would like is the chance to keep on doing these things and perhaps regain a few of the things I have lost. This to me would be a huge success. Some people that we know that have had the procedure done have shown great improvements and we would like the opportunity to give it a try and see if it will work for us. With your help and support this could become a reality.
My family and I truly appreciate the efforts of those volunteers who have acknowledged our needs and stepped forward to work for the cause. Any contributions or suggestions would be gratefully accepted.