Chatham-Kent’s deputy chief of police is not a needle guy; in fact, he hadn’t given blood for the past 28 years because of that phobia.
But he did on Saturday at the Arms Out for Andrew blood donor clinic held at the St. Clair College Healthplex to support Const. Andrew Gaiswinkler.
“I’m not a needle guy, but obviously I did this for Andrew,” he said. “I’ve known Andrew since he came on our force (in 2000). He’s a fantastic person and a great police officer.”
This past November, Gaiswinkler was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, which is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow.
Gaiswinkler was rushed by ambulance to London and immediately began chemotherapy. He has been in and out of hospital since, receiving blood transfusions and other medical treatment.
The veteran constable is on the One Match registry, awaiting a stem cell donor and transplant. His search went international.
Littlewood wasn’t the only person on hand at the clinic on the weekend. It was crowded, and donors had to wait for more than an hour in many cases to give.
Gaiswinkler, who has undergone chemotherapy treatment to battle the cancer, said he feels pretty well these days, but knows the remission is only temporary.
“My blood levels are climbing back up,” he said. “I’ve got energy and I feel good.”
Seeing the support Saturday only served to bolster his spirits.
“I’m very humbled by the whole thing. The guys did a great job promoting this,” he said.
While at the blood donor clinic, Gaiswinkler was pleasantly bombarded by well wishes from passing officers.
He is cautiously optimistic about the stem cell replacement, as he has two potential donors with matches in nine out of 10 categories.
“It’s not 100 per cent, but for two people I got a nine out of 10,” he said, adding one of his children has at least a half match as well.
In the past, to receive a transplant, you needed a 10 out of 10, but now stem cell transplants are being done with the nine out of 10 rating.
Gaiswinkler said he is to head to Toronto this week to speak to the doctors for more testing and to hopefully firm up a date for the stem cell procedure, which could take place sometime in March.
“This is an aggressive form of leukemia. It won’t stay in remission,” Gaiswinkler said.
Marisa Gatfield, territory manager for Canadian Blood Services, said about 150 people attended the clinic to donate, but the clinic wasn’t able to accommodate everyone. Overall, 104 units of blood were collected, and many of the people who were unable to donate have rescheduled for the March 14 clinic at the Spirit and Life Centre in Chatham.
The 104 units, however, is nearly double what a typical three-hour clinic collects.
