Kanata bar goes dry to save a life

CTV Ottawa: Ottawa bar opens for 'Swabbing Party' Desperate appeal to find a friend's bone marrow match prompts Kanata bar to host donor event. Natalie Pierosara reports.

The Crazy Horse Stonegrill Steakhouse & Saloon in Kanata will lock up the liquor tomorrow night to host a “swabbing party.”

The owner of the grill, Gregg McCabe, is holding the event for Chris Taylor, of Ottawa, who manages McCabe’s Grace O’Malley’s pub in Toronto.

Taylor, 35, has Acute Myeloid Leukemia, and requires a bone marrow transplant.

The swabbing party is an opportunity for Canadian Blood Services to swab potential donors for OneMatch, Canada’s stem cell and marrow network.

McCabe says, “The prognosis for him today is that he needs a bone marrow transplant to survive, and if he doesn't get it, it doesn't look good.”

In Canada, about 1,000 people are waiting for a bone marrow transplant. The registry needs male donors, aged 17 to 35 to help patients world-wide. OneMatch has a particular need within different ethnic communities.

In most cases, when a match is found, the procedure for the donor is similar to giving blood. In about 10% of cases, surgery would be required to remove bone marrow from the donor’s hip.

The swabbing party will be held at the Crazy Horse in Kanata, and at Grace O’Malley’s Pub in Toronto, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Taylor says, “If there is a match found I have a 50/50 chance of it curing the cancer.”

CTV’s Natalie Pierosara will have more on this story tonight at six.