A remarkable woman is recognized
- Details
- Published on Friday, March 16, 2018
By Sheila Runions
Rivers Banner
Sara McLean of Rivers won the young woman (ages 22-29) category of the 31st annual YWCA Women of Distinction ceremony in Brandon on Thursday, March 8. She was the lone young woman winner, who joins 10 adult and one youth (aged 16-21) winner from among 22 females nominated. She received the award primarily for her efforts to raise money for cancer awareness/care. In October 2015 Sara’s son Sora was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.
“Acute myeloid leukemia is a cancer that starts in the blood stem cells. Sora had a haploidentical stem cell transplant; at the time, only 10 had been done in Manitoba. I was hooked up to an apheresis machine for almost five hours. They had a large needle in both my arms and the machine cycled through my blood system, twice, to separate my stem cells. They manually injected my stem cells into his blood system and then waited for the magic to happen. By day 30 my stem cells had started working and he did well, until day 92 when he passed. He had, at one point, Level 3 graft-versus-host disease.”
In addition to the transplant, young Sora endured four rounds of chemotherapy treatment and two bouts of radiation; he lost his battle on April 20, 2016 at age seven. A month later, Sara, husband Michael and daughter Kryee (now 11), moved from Brandon to the 500 block of Fifth Avenue in Rivers.
“We moved here because it seemed peaceful, after the traumatic event of losing my son to such a horrible disease. I couldn't live in Brandon any longer.”
The family has settled into a new life here; Sara works at Rolling Dale Enterprises and Kyree attends Rivers Elementary School. They continue to honour Sora by co-ordinating various cancer-related fundraisers, “All under the name Super Sora Squad. We threw a blood drive at the Brandon clinic before it closed; we had 120 per cent booking and lots of new donors. We have done the Ronald McDonald walk twice and we did a book drive for Winnipeg Children's Hospital. (All treatment had to be done in Winnipeg because Brandon cannot support childhood cancer.)
“We were the honourary chair for the Relay for Life in Brandon and we do daffodil sales for Canadian Cancer Society. My daughter has also thrown a hot chocolate and candy cane sale at Rivers school; she raised just over $100 for Children's Hospital. She also plans on doing a lemonade stand this summer in our yard. I am currently trying to fill 14 insulated lunch bags full of items (toothpaste, deodorant, etc.) for families staying at Ronald McDonald house.”
Sara was nominated for her extra-ordinary efforts by girlfriends Michelle and Krista, who attended the awards gala with her. Sara says the event, held in conjunction with International Women’s Day, was “empowering. To be in a room filled with such powerhouse women felt amazing. I was also happy that people recognized my hard work and positive attitude towards life and helping others.”
