Remembering Emru

Though Pierrefonds resident Emru Townsend, 39, died peacefully in his sleep last Tuesday night at the Jewish General Hospital out of complications due to an advanced form of cancer called acute myelogenous leukemia, his sister Tamu would like to keep the public advocacy work they started together last March alive.

"We all have the power to help each other," Tamu told The Chronicle.

Emru, a well-known freelance writer, teacher and web designer, particularly in film animation and technology circles, was diagnosed with leukemia last December. When the Townsends found out Emru would need a bone marrow donor for a stem cell transplant, they also discovered his Afro-Carribean heritage would make the search difficult.

That group, as well as other minorities, are under-represented in the bone marrow registry. The Townsends began a media campaign to sensitize the population to this problem, starting a website called healemru.com. "It would be useless (to throw it all away," Tamu said, adding she had discussed the idea of keeping it around with Emru.

"If someone needed help he'd help them," she recalled of her brother. "It's just an extension of who he is."

According to Hema Quebec, there was a very small spike in the amount of black people who registered as potential donors since the Townsends started their awareness campaign.

"When Ms. Townsend started to ask black people to register, she thought that maybe we would have more black people," explained Diane Roy, director of the bone marrow registry program for the organization. However, she added, only 132 blacks Canada-wide have joined since then, and only 24 of those are from Quebec.

Acknowledging the bone marrow registry is not necessarily the most advertised aspect of Hema Quebec's work, Roy said the situation will improve. "We're going to change (the Hema Quebec) website," she said. "It's going to be in spring 2009," she added. The new web pages should have more information on the registry.

The procedure for those who wish to register as donors is simple. Calling up Hema Quebec or filling out a consent form on their website is the first step, according to Tamu. Hema Quebec will then contact them when there is a blood drive nearby. In Quebec, a small blood sample is needed in order to register members, who have to be between 18 and 50 years of age.

In September, Emru found a donor. Though a transplant operation took place, Tamu said the leukemia had just spread too far to make a difference.

Throughout his sickness, multiple chemotherapy sessions and transplant operation, he kept his well-known positive outlook on life and sense of humour.

"Even after he was sick, he would come in here and talk to us and joke. It was like he was trying to cheer us up," recalled Pierre Lamy, the co-owner of comic book store Cosmix in St. Laurent, where Emru was a customer for about 20 years. "He was solid as the Rock of Gibraltar," Lamy said.

Like many of Emru's friends, Lamy tried to help spread the word about his plight by putting up posters about his ordeal in the store. "He was trying to talk about it and trying to help," Lamy said.

Joyce Borenstein, a film animation teacher at Concordia University and filmmaker, never had Emru as a student while he completed his undergraduate degree in film animation there, but she recalled him very well. "He commanded attention," she said. "You just sort of took note of him when you saw him in the hallway."

Borenstein came to know Emru better through his work, including his foundation of a specialized magazine called Frames Per Second (FPS). "I think he did this single-handedly," Borenstein said, recalling how unique such a publication was in Montreal at the time, in 1994.

"He impressed me as a leader," Borenstein said, remembering his authoritative presence and positive energy. "He just had the air of someone you wanted to be around and follow," she said, adding he also had a beautiful voice. In fact, Emru recorded audio instructions for a series of tutorials for the animation software known as Toonboom.

"I always thought he was very intelligent, very quick-witted," Lamy said.

Tamu said his amazing sense of humour is one of the traits she will always remember about him, and insisted people learn more about registering. "In lieu of flowers," she posted on the healemru blog in a post that invited visitors to attend Emru's visitation this last weekend, "please learn more about how to get registered to be a bone marrow and stem cell donor."

"People have to decide if they're going to be part of this change, of if they're going to let someone else do it," she said.

As for the donor who tried to save Emru's life, Tamu and the Townsends sent out their eternal gratitude. They will never know who it was.

"That won't be possible now," Tamu explained. If transplant operations are successful, the donor and recipient may arrange for a meeting a year later. Otherwise, the donor remains anonymous to the recipient and their loved ones.

Both Lamy and Borenstein said Emru's struggle made them realize just how fragile life is.

"I thought he was going to pull through," Borenstein said, "because he was so strong."

"It makes me feel privileged to be alive," she added.

As for Lamy, he recollected how Emru's retaining his composure and positive attitude throughout his illness made him realize how small and petty his own problems were in comparison.

"We should appreciate everyday as we wake up," he said.

A father of two, Lamy said he was struck by how young Emru was when he passed on. "I hugged (my own children) a bit more that night," he said.

Emru Patrice Lumumba Townsend was born in Montreal on May 10, 1969. He is survived by his wife Vicky Vriniotis, their son Max, his sister Tamu and his parents Beverley King and David Townsend.