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12 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday February 7, 2007 www.oakvillebeaver.com Living Oakville Beaver LIVING EDITOR: ANGELA BLACKBURN Phone: 905-845-3824, ext. 248 Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: angela@oakvillebeaver.com Kickin' for SickKids By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF LIESA KORTMANN / OAKVILLE BEAVER TAKING PART: Victor Lo, 11, will be hosting a Kickin' For Sick Kids kick-a-thon for kids Saturday, Feb. 17, from 10:30-11 a.m. at his parents' new business, the Oakville Taekwondo Academy at 364 Kerr St., 905-8445377. His older brother, Erik, died of leukemia two years before Victor was born. Eleven-year-old Victor Lo is asking other kids -- even children's television star Daniel Cook -- to join him in Kids Kickin' for SickKids. Victor is out to raise money for Sick Kids Hospital with the event to be held Saturday, Feb. 17 at his parents' newly established Oakville Taekwondo Academy on Kerr Street. "Our son Victor always does fundraisers for Sick Kids," said his mom, Kim Lo explaining, "Our first son, Erik, had AML (acute myelogenous leukemia). When he was nine months old, he had a bone marrow transplant at Sick Kids, relapsed and then died in August 1994." Victor, who was born two years later, has made it a practice to do fundraising for the renowned children's hospital. "It's in memory of my brother Erik who died of cancer and because Sick Kids Hospital is a good cause," said Victor. The young Erik -- known as "Special K" to his many friends and family - passed away after a 10-month fight against leukemia -- an ordeal during which his own and his parents' struggle raised awareness about the Red Cross' Unrelated Bone Marrow Registry. Erik was in 1993 diagnosed as having acute myelogenous leukemia, a rare form of blood cancer for which a bone marrow transplant drastically improves the chances of recovery. The next March he had an autologuous transplant: his own bone marrow, removed and stored during remission, and re-infused into his body. He returned home, but Erik's disease relapsed. That June, his parents said they must raise more than $250,000 U.S. if their son was to undergo an experimental bone marrow transplant in Seattle. The procedure would have involved the removal of marrow from one of his parents then modifying it to be compatible with Erik's for transplant. Erik passed away that August. Now, a decade later, Erik's younger brother has picked up the cause -- and pursued it through the Kids Believe in Sick Kids program founded in 2005. See Family's page 13 Cleaning Solutions Hosted by K-litefm`s Sunni Genesco Thank you Oakville for choosing us Gold in the Carpet/ Floor Cleaning category. Try Us, You'll Be Amazed. 905.337.3117 · · · · · · Residential & Commercial Area Rug Cleaning Free Pick Up & Delivery We Work Weekends On Call 24/7 Steam or Dry Cleaning www.amazingresults.ca