Montreal Writer Loses Battle with Leukemia
STC-Montreal Article | Posted November 12th, 2008
Emru Townsend died Tuesday night after a year-long fight to beat the disease that ultimately took his life.
Emru — together with his sister Tamu — launched a public awareness campaign for bone marrow donation, which was the only viable treatment for his leukemia. Emru found a donor who was a match for him, but the treatment came too late.
Tamu said of her brother, “He taught a lot of people a lot of things, but he spent 2008 teaching people how to reach out to one another in a whole new way. If you carry some of this forward, it will be a year even better spent.”
Emru is survived by his wife Vicky and son Max.
To learn more about how you can become a bone marrow donor, visit HealEmru.com.
November 19th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Posted by Andy Gural.
I remember meeting Emru when we were at school at Vanier. Every conversation I ever had with him was too short. What a great fellow.