A Special Boater with Special Needs

It is often said that boaters are considered in a special community and help their fellow boaters in need. In my e-mail box today is the following information that surely falls into that "In Need" situation. This is a Special Lady to be sure and deserves Special Attention in her time of need. The e-mail copied below says the whole story and I am sure it will touch you much like it moved me. . . .

Island woman receives transplant after sister donates bone marrow

Friends, family raising funds to help with costs

Washington Island, Wis., June 10, 2010 – Valerie Fons knows a thing or two about family bonds. When she needed a bone marrow transplant, her sister Lynette donated her own marrow to save Fons’ life in May. Volunteers are participating in a fundraising campaign to offset the expenses and will be seeking donations during the Washington Island Canoe and Kayak Event June 18-20.

Fons, 59, first noticed signs of illness last summer. An avid kayaker, she was participating in a race when a friend noticed she was not paddling as fast as usual. In November, her husband, Joe Ervin, took her to the emergency room. An oncologist in the ER reviewed her blood work and discovered an E. coli infection. Just two days later, she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and began rigorous chemotherapy treatments the following day. Had the infection and disease gone undiagnosed, she would have died in two days.

Fons has always believed in giving back to her community. An ordained elder and pastor in the United Methodist Church, she and Ervin have six adopted children ranging in age from 7 to 15. They also founded the nonprofit Lake Adventures Uniting Nature and Children with Hospitality (L.A.U.N.C.H.), which offers kayak tours for inner city children and community programs, including hot breakfasts at Washington Island School.

A bone marrow transplant costs more than $300,000. Even with health insurance, Fons faces significant medical expenses. She will need vital medications and follow-up visits to ensure her body accepts the new bone marrow.

Fons and her three daughters have temporarily relocated more than 2,000 miles from their home in Wisconsin to Seattle, where the transplant took place. She must remain in this area for at least 100 days post-transplant to be near the transplant center during recovery. For the rest of her life, she will have to travel to Seattle regularly for follow-up visits. Irvin is staying in Wisconsin to care for the couple’s three sons while she goes through the recovery process.

To overcome these financial challenges, Fons turned to the National Foundation for Transplants (NFT) for assistance. NFT is a nonprofit organization that helps transplant patients raise funds to pay for medical expenses.

“Valerie is truly an inspiration to us all, and we’re honored to be working with her,” said Carrie Berry, NFT fundraising consultant. “Despite all her challenges, she has unbreakable spirit and determination. She has a wonderfully supportive community, and NFT is dedicated to helping the Fons family overcome these financial obstacles.”

Fons once paddled 21,000 miles from the Arctic Ocean to Cape Horn and has set a Guinness record for paddling the 2,348-length of the Mississippi River. In 2009, she established the Washington Island Canoe and Kayak Event (WICKE), which crosses Death’s Door from Washington Island to Northport on the Door County mainland. She is so dedicated to this sport that she kept her kayak paddle in the hospital bed so she had a constant reminder of the outdoors she loves so much.

This year’s WICKE will take place Friday, June 18 through Sunday, June 20, drawing kayakers from several states for a symposium and race. The race takes place Saturday, June 19 at 9:30 a.m. For more information about the event, please contact Carol Meyer at 920-847-2546 or carol@wisferry.com.

Volunteers from Fons’ fundraising campaign will set up a table at the event to help raise funds for her transplant expenses. Community members are encouraged to visit the table to learn more about how they can help.

To make donations in honor of Fons, please visit www.transplants.org and click on “patients we help” to search for her. If you prefer to mail your contribution, please send your gift to the NFT Wisconsin Bone Marrow Fund, 5350 Poplar Avenue, Suite 430, Memphis, TN 38119. Be sure to write “in honor of Valerie Fons” in the subject line.

About NFT

NFT is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization based in Memphis, Tenn. that has been helping transplant patients overcome financial obstacles since 1983. NFT provides fundraising expertise and advocacy to transplant patients by organizing fundraising campaigns in the patients’ own communities. In the past 27 years, NFT’s fundraising campaigns have generated more than $56 million to assist patients.

NFT currently assists more than 1,000 transplant candidates and recipients nationwide. For more information about NFT, please call 800-489-3863 or visit www.transplants.org.