He's been battling leukemia for five years, and he needs your help now.
Conestoga student Dany Mercado, 24, is in a race to get a life-saving bone marrow transplant.
Tomorrow, Conestoga Students Inc. is teaming up with the non-profit organization, Better World Today, to raise money for Mercado’s medical care and awareness about bone marrow donation.
OHIP only covers bone marrow transplants if the donor is an exact match. But Mercado can get a mismatch bone marrow transplant in Detroit, Mich. at the Karmanos Cancer Institute. In a mismatch transplant, the recipient gets bone marrow from a donor with the closest possible match.
The cost for the procedure is $200,000.
Tuesday, Nov. 27 has been designated Help Dany Day at Conestoga. Volunteers will be stationed at all entrances to the college from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. to take donations. At 10 a.m. Kitchener firefighters will be challenging teams to pull a fire truck to generate more support through pledges for Mercado. Part of the main road through the college will be blocked off, and the fire truck pull will take place between Doors 1 and 2. A cheque will be presented to the Dany Mercado Foundation at 12 p.m. in the Student Life Centre atrium. NASCAR Canada driver and Conestoga grad J.R. Fitzpatrick will also be on hand to promote the event. "I’ll be here until the end to help Dany," he said.
Ron Giles is a Windsor man who founded the organization Better World Tomorrow to raise funds and awareness about bone marrow donation. Giles was on the registry for 10 years before he got the call to donate two years ago. His bone marrow helped save the life of a 14-year-old boy.
Giles met Mercado’s parents when they came to Better World Tomorrow’s Camp 4 Compassion in Leamington. "They were pleading with us to help save their son’s life," said Giles.
Mercado’s situation is complicated by the fact that he is of Nicaraguan descent. In an interview on Detroit’s Fox News, Mercado’s mother Ileana pleaded for people to register. "The most possibility to find (a match) is in the Spanish community," she said. "It’s a simple test … it won’t take so much time to save my son’s life."
Donors can join the National Marrow Donor Program Registry by completing a brief health questionnaire and having a swab of cheek cells taken from the inside of their mouth. The more people who are registered with the donor program, the better chance recipients have of getting an exact match.
Mercado is a student in the mechanical engineering technology, robotics and automation program, and a graduate of Grand River Collegiate Institute. He has also been a support worker for developmentally challenged people for five years. He has been at the Grand River Regional Cancer Centre since Nov. 2 to stabilize his condition.
CSI president Roxy Stanciu said Mercado is in critical condition, but rallied when he heard about the Conestoga fundraiser. "It really raised his spirits."
CSI manager Christopher Graves is amazed Help Dany Day has taken off so quickly. "It’s just had a real ripple effect. International students want to help because they feel he’s one of their own," he said. "Kitchener firefighters got on board because a lot of them are alumni. All the LASA students and police and firefighter foundations students want to be involved."
Mercado’s father Luis said he wants Conestoga students to be part of a miracle. "It’s been a very difficult journey, a painful one," he said. "And now we’re in the final stages. With your help, we can save Dany’s life."
By CHARLOTTE PRONG PARKHILL