July 5, 2008
TheStar.com - living - Oliver Schroer: Gracefully taking leave of life
Oliver Schroer: Gracefully taking leave of life
DIANE FLACKS
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
NOTE: Oliver Schroer passed away since the Saturday's Living section went to print. The
musician succumbed to his illness on July 3, 2008.
Musician Oliver Schroer drapes his 6-foot, 6-inch body across his single bed in the
leukemia ward of the Princess Margaret Cancer Hospital in Toronto. He's surrounded by
computers, CDs, speakers, cards and photos, and a laden IV pole. Hanging off it, like
giant opaque leaves on a shiny silver tree, are bags of platelets, Demerol and fluids.
Schroer's bushy goatee, lost to chemo, has grown back, but not the hair on his head. He
wears red, sexy-nerd glasses and striped pyjamas. His muscle mass has atrophied owing
to steroids, so he looks even more lanky in this tiny room that he gratefully calls home.
"With my platelet numbers, I'm effectively a hemophiliac. If I left here and banged my
head, I could develop a brain bleed. So, I'm happy to be here."
The words "happy" and "here" don't usually go with Princess Margaret Hospital. But
Schroer is not a usual man.
Read the full article here in PDF format, or click to visit TheStar.com
June 15
Ride to Conquer Cancer
Hi Friends,
The 200 km Ride to Conquer Cancer fundraising ride is coming up next weekend. Riders in teams will be making the haul from Toronto to Hamilton, and collecting pledges to beat cancer. Obviously, this is a
topic that is pretty close to me. My oncologist, Dr. Andre Schuh is riding on the 'Heme Team'. That team is specifically raising money for leukemia/hematology research.
I ask that you support him and his team in this ride - follow the links to the online site, and think about making a donation to this worthy cause.
All the best
Oliver
The 200k bike ride - The Ride to Conquer Cancer - is next weekend.
The link to this event is http://www.conquercancer.ca
I (Oliver's Oncologist) and a number of other malignant hematology physicians and nurses (Oliver know s many of them) are riding as a team in this fundraiser. Here is the link to our team -The Heme Team.
http://www.conquercancer.ca/site/TR?pg=team&fr_id=1201&team_id=4110
One can navigate easily from this page to make pledges to individual riders via a number of routes, including clicking on the individual rider's name.
Our goal in this ride is to raise money for leukemia research and treatment.
May 28, 2008
Hi Folks,
First of all, I want to say a big thank you to all of you who got tickets to the concert, and made my dream of a sold out show come true. Next, I want to apologize to all of you who did not manage to get tickets. What a problem to have. I was mortified that tickets were gone so fast, and there was no way to accommodate people. I was not expecting this. We thought of changing the venue, but by then, it would have been a logistical nightmare, and every one of the ticket holders would have had to be notified of the venue change. But the whole thing occupied me mentally. I had a dream the other night where I was at Trinity St. Paul’s, and I discovered a sliding door up in the balcony, and there behind the door were another 300 seats. I yelled excitedly to the church warden, “Look, there are a whole other bunch of seats up here.” “Oh, those things, we never use them. I suppose you could if you wanted.” I was so pleased until I woke up!
In any case, we are professionally recording and shooting the concert, so there will be a good record of it a the very least, for those who could not be there, or those who want to revisit it.
We just passed May 27th, and I always remember that date as the date of another sold out Oliver concert at Trinity St. Paul’s church in Toronto. The year was 1994 and the occasion was an album release concert for Whirled and featured the large Stewed Tomatoes band, which wasn’t even called Stewed Tomatoes yet! But it sure was an exciting show. One of the moments I remember came toward the end of the concert. Because the album was called ‘Whirled’ with that double entendre, I had a huge beachball/globe on a pedestal at the back, and I was intending to throw it into the audience at the end of the show. Well, I took one look at the venue, the crowded stage, the CBC recording setup, and I decided it would not be a good idea. I told everybody in the band. And then, during that final song, singer Michele George had a moment, and went back to get the beachball. I thought “She’s sick. She’s leaving the stage. OH NO!! She’s getting the beachball!” Well, it was high drama. You can actually hear the roar of the crowd on the CBC recording. We managed to take out a couple of expensive CBC mics, and flattened Collen’s saxes, but all in all, it was a moment to remember! By the way, there will be no beachballs at the show on June 5th.
Music…
I am ruminating on a lot of things, and one thing that came up was “Why did I write all of my crazy music?” Basically it has been part of my ongoing search for meaning. When I was in my 20’s I studied Philosophy. Heavy stuff. Kant, Hegel, Wittgenstein. I wasn’t playing my fiddle yet, But I did play guitar, and I found I had to give the guitar to a friend who lived across town so I couldn’t play it. Music for me was always such a sensuous full body experience, and it got in the way of thinking hard, which I was trying to do. Discipline. Thought. Great things. But I was also having a hard time finding meaning there.
The meaning I was looking for I didn’t see or find meaning in religion either. Not that I didn’t see other people finding a lot of meaning and solace there. But somehow it was not cut out for me. And that is not to say that I didn’t have an ongoing dialogue with God my whole life long. I used to read the Bible in secret as a teenager. Always 17 verses a day. I ‘m not sure why. So I was not ill disposed toward religion. It’s just that I never found that oomph of certainty that other people seemed to get from it.
And then I discovered music. Fiddle music. First of all, it was music that was inclusive. Old and young could do it together. It knew no bounds in terms of socioeconomic or intellectual background. It was utterly unlike philosophy. I was hooked. I got into that social aspect of the music at first. After studying philosophy, which was so heady and esoteric, it was great to sit with a bunch of old tyme fiddlers and to happily and simply play tunes together. A human connective thing.
But I have a restless mind. So at a certain point, I wanted more than the traditional tunes. Even after delving into various world musics, I still heard something different in my mind’s ear. So I started composing tunes. What a thrill. One minute there was nothing, and then, brief moments later, a whole new world existed in the form of a tune. I made things up to keep myself amused. And I played them to keep me happy. My music was not a vehicle to express my angst, but a way of expressing joy and hope and thus cheering up my dark philosophical soul. I busked in the subway for a bunch of years, and I swear that playing all of those lively jigs and reels for all of those hours actually rearranged my molecules in a more positive, happy way.
And because I have a very active as well as restless mind, I composed more and more. I realized that my subconscious does most of the work, and I started composing many tunes at a time, working with tape recorders to retain ideas. And all of this was to keep myself amused. I was very happy that others were also amused by what I was churning out. And also that life was letting me continue to do my thing – to write music as a central activity in my life, and somehow to keep existing in this material world.
And then I stumbled on another kind of tune. What I call the fractal tune. The material that became O2 and Camino. It had a very different quality to it. It was less of an entertainment, and more of a sacrament. This was music that came to me from a different place. Very deep, unexpected, inexplicable and spiritual. Talk of keeping me amused. It had progressed beyond amusement into spiritual practice for me. And getting back to the search for meaning, there was a lot of meaning in this music. It connected with people, it connected with soul, it expressed something profound for myself and apparently for others. It was a mystery, and a beautiful mystery at that. So that, for what it’s worth, is a bit of the story of my musical journey thus far.
Being engaged…
If you spend your life involved at least somewhat in creative things, activities that feed you and make you happy, then when you are in a position like I am, you can amplify those things and get a lot of enjoyment from them. But if you would wait until you were in a position like mine, and THEN try to start something, it would feel artificial and pointless. So I can only exhort you to be as engaged in your lives as possible while you can, particularly the creative side, because that sets the tone for when things get a bit rough. It is like a sense of humour. A lot of people like jokes and banter. But when the road gets rocky, that is when we need out sense of humour the most, and that is when a lot of people drop it and get all serious and worried.
Dying…
Is a funny subject. Very slippery when you try to get in there. I mean, I am dying now, am I not? But for me, dying represents more like that moment in the play where the actor clutches his throat and falls to the ground in a dramatic display, possible two or three times. That moment of passage which caused Nathaniel Webster to utter as his last words (paraphrased): “I die. I am dying. Both are used.” Right now it feels as though I am living, and rather intensely at that. So we could say that we are all dying, because in fact we are. We are all heading there. But that becomes very abstract, and believe me, it is not less abstract for me right now than for any of you. So that kind of leaves me back at square one in terms of my grasping of what is happening on a daily basis.
Sometimes I think of dying as taking a trip, a trip far away to a place from which I cannot come back. We all know people who do that…. move to Tasmania. (great place, by the way…) The point is, we wish these people well on their journey, but we don’t get all choked up and overwrought about it. We remember them fondly, and they live on in our memories through stories and the legacy they have left. We toast them in absentia, and hope they are doing well in their new digs. Well, my whole journey feels a bit like that. I am going to this place we will all go, and my travel plans are just a bit more immediate than yours. (Though life is strange, and I still might not be the first to go. Just be careful crossing those streets and driving those cars, folks.) I think a lot in terms of metaphors to help me understand things. I have been informed by the stationmaster that my train is coming in immanently, and that I should be ready to get on board when it does. But until that train comes, I am still doing what I am doing fully and completely.
One more perspective….
There is a nurse on this ward who really knows her stuff and has been here a long time. She came into the computer room where I was sitting one day and said, out of the blue: “Oliver, I am so happy you did not get your Bone Marrow Transplant.” I was a bit shocked, and asked her to explain. She said “ I have seen you progress through your chemo, and never quite pass with flying colours, and I have seen this disease in all of its aspects. Had you received your BMT, there would have been in immense amount of pain and suffering, and the whole procedure undoubtedly would have not worked. Even had it worked for a while, you would have almost certainly relapsed. And then you would have had all of that pain and suffering, and leukemia, and horrible side effects from the BMT. The quality of your life would have been miserable and you would have got done none of the stuff you are doing now.” What a thought. I thanked her from the bottom of my heart for this perspective, because I knew she was right. Even if I had had the BMT, I was in an extremely high risk group, and I knew that. But it was good to have somebody spell all of that out. Because the way things have worked out, I really have gotten to do a tremendous amount of positive stuff in the last few months. I thank the universe for that.
May 23, 2008
Hello friends,
Well, the remaining small batch of tickets are now up on line, and it
is first come/first serve, so if you missed the chance first time
around, don't tarry. I decided to do no door tickets, because in a
way it tortures people. They will feel compelled to come to the venue
super early to line up, which is a pain, and this way, people either
have their ticket or not, and we don't have to go through the 'line up
and see if we can get in' rigamarole.
So good luck, and I'll see you on the 5th.
Trinity St. Paul's
June 5th, 8pm
www.ticketpro.ca
very limited number of tickets left!
May 21, 2008
Hello friends,
Well, things are really developing on the concert front. Tickets went on sale not long ago, and the block I reserved for sale by ticketpro.ca has sold out. This does not mean that the concert is sold out, folks. I still have a block of tickets that were for sale at the door. I am figuring out whether I can put them up online as well, and when this could happen. I will let you all know ASAP if that next block opens up. Otherwise, there will be a certain number of tickets at the door. But hang tight, and I will let you know in a few days.
Meanwhile, Stormy Night productions has been doing filming of me doing my thing in preparation for the concert, all to be woven into the concert footage they will shoot. They have already done several shoots of me practicing, recording, rehearsing. Audio is also being professionally recorded. So we have the documentation bases covered.
I just completed the first draft of the set list. It is very unusual for an Oliver concert, and I am dead chuffed with it, as they say. Repertoire from before I started recording, to stuff I wrote literally yesterday. It will be a blast for me, that's for certain.
More perspectives on life
Here are a few more perspectives on things I have been thinking about recently. I have been musing on why I am so accepting of my fate? Because it still feels that way to me now.
I realized that I see my life as something that has given to me to use, a stewardship, not an ownership. And that makes a big difference. If it was an ownership, and I really HAD my life they way I can HAVE a car or a violin or a microphone, then I could see being royally ticked of at having this thing taken away. But as a stewardship, I am allowed to live and enjoy my life, to use it to the fullness of my power, knowing all along that I will have to give it back, or let it go, or whatever turn of phrase fits best.
The next thing is that I find I do have a sense of humility and acceptance before the hugeness of life. And when life hands me something, who am I to deny it, to want to give it back. I look at life all around me, burgeoning, bursting forth in its hugeness and glory all over this planet, and I am such a small part of that. Life is unthinkably immense. And I feel that life has informed me that it is my turn to move on. And my response to that is to say "OK, and thanks for the fish. (oops that was another book) OK and thanks for the beautiful ride, and fantastic opportunities, the magnificent experience of it all." Who am I to rail against life, to shake my fist at it, to disagree with it's dictates? I would be a fool, I think.
And then there is my own belief at what will happen when I actually pass on. I do believe the soul goes on. I think when we die, we simply reconstitute into another form, another way of being that is so
different from this embodied way of being that we cannot ever hope to understand it from this perspective on earth. BUT. The second we go through the transition, I am convinced we will say AHA! I think at
that point it will make ultimate sense, and there will be no doubt that things are proceeding as they should. That is just my very personal view of things, but it does make me very unafraid of the actual moment or event of dying. I think it will have its own powerful logic that will smooth the path and carry me along.
On a day to day basis, I do find staying in the present moment the most important thing. The past is behind, the future is yet to come. And what do I know of the future, even now? Frankly, not much. SO
the trick is to stay on that knife edge of reality between past and future and use time there.
There is a folk tale about an old man and his wife. The wife goes down into the basement to get some preserves, and she does not come up for the longest time. Finally the husband goes to look for here and finds her weeping inconsolably, collapsed on the floor. He finally gets her to talk, and she says, "I came down into the basement, and then I looked up and saw the axe you had sunk into the ceiling beam. Then I though of our beautiful son, and how he will come back home soon, and I thought of him coming down into the basement, and the axe becoming dislodged from the beam, and striking him on the head and killing him. Oh, woe is me."
Without finishing this story, we can see how ridiculous, and also how human this story is. We all do that to a certain degree. Construct elaborate scenarios in the future based on doom and gloom. I try these days as much as possible to ignore those chimeras. Being a producer helped me learn to do this. I would often have many projects on the go. If I looked at the totality of my work, I would/could freak out. So I had to learn to concentrate on one project only, and bracket off the other ones. Everything would get done that way, but I could create a little bubble of calmness that way in which to work on one thing only.
So I am doing this again. Bubbles of calmness. I am working on a lot of recorded music, and preparing for my June 5th show. And yet, I feel calm and focused, and so things are getting done, bit by bit.
Thank you all for getting tickets for the show. And I will let you know very soon what is happening with that last block of tickets
Peace,
Oliver
Look up the Olifiddle Concert from February 2008, and listen to it anytime you would like
April 13, 2008
Anyone in the Toronto area wanting to learn some Olitunes?
I will be in Toronto for the summer to spend time with Oli and would be overjoyed to host an Olifiddle workshop (or two) if we can wrangle enough fiddlers up.
It would likely be on a Sunday in June...if one goes well, we'll do another. I''ll leave this open to all levels of fiddling. If we get enough interest we can split the group up to better accomodate skill levels and learning speeds.
Secondly, Emilyn and I would like to kick-start a Twisted String group in the Toronto area. We're looking for highschool-aged, advanced fiddlers/violinists, with fast ears, dedication, an interest in Olitunes (essential) and at least a LITTLE bit of craziness (the more the better).
Please pass this message on to anyone you think might be interested.
Anyone interested can email me by clicking here.
Thanks to Karen for putting the bug in my ear.
Hope to see many of you in June!
Chels
April 8, 2008
Hi friends,
I have wanted to write more to all of you about my situation. I sent out an info letter last weekend, but it was a pretty plain letter, and did not include a lot of stuff I feel is important to talk about at this point, for me and for everybody.
The gist of that first letter was that the doctors have run out of ways to treat my disease, which is particularly aggressive and ornery. They have thrown every combo of chemotherapy and nasty drugs at my cancer, and in incredibly high doses. The doctors admitted that they were surprised already that the chemotherapy had not actually killed me. It turns out that I am very tough. (My friend Teresa Doyle from PEI says I’m tougher than a boiled owl.) So if there are no treatment options left for me, what they can and intend to do is make me as comfortable as I can be in the time left to me, so that I am not in pain and not suffering in any way.
What I did not talk about in that first letter was how I feel about all of this… I guess I feel that life is not only about quantity. It is about quality as well in a big way. We all have to die some time. None of us will live on this planet forever. I think some people live very intensely and burn very brightly during their time here. I think I am one of those people. A shining star while I am here. So I look at my life as I have lived it, and I feel very satisfied with all I have achieved and gone through. As a musician and artist I have found my voice on my instrument of choice. That is what any artist wants to do. Whether you are a mucian or a painter or a dancer or a writer, the bottom line as a creative person is to find that unique voice and express it in your art. I really did invent my own unique way of playing the fiddle, and that is a fantastic, beautiful and frankly, a lucky thing.
I got to record many albums of my music, and to get that music out there, instead of just thinking about it, or planning it. In the process of recording these albums, I had so many great adventures with fellow musicians and travelers along the path. I have gotten to collaborate with some wonderful folks throughout the years. So many of these collaborators have become great friends to me, and that is a source of a lot of satisfaction in my life. Not to mention the myriad of stories that have come out of these adventures. I have truly led a charmed life.
And then, I have had a beautiful bunch of teaching relationships with a lot of students, not only individuals but entire communities of learning musicians. I got to interact with them and to pass on my music in very direct ways. I created a lot of repertoire for these students – for example for the Valley Youth Fiddlers and the Twisted String in Smithers.
My mission was to make music that was going to be seriously fun to play. For myself, I felt that I succeeded, but of course the ultimate test was the players. If they were not playing it, did not like it, then my opinions about the music were going to be pretty meaningless. But play it they did. And with enthusiasm and aplomb. This has been a happy and proud part of my life. I never got to have biological kids. But I did get to pass on my music in important ways to a whole generation of young people. I did get to give something back in that way, and not just make or take.
So between finding my voice on my instrument, and being able to share my music directly with so many, I feel like a very lucky guy. There is also the fact that in life, I like to concentrate on the positive aspects of reality. I don’t like to mope around about things. I strongly suggest to all of you that this is a waaaay better way to go and to be. Look at what you do have, and thank the Creator for that, and enjoy it all to the max. Don’t look at what you don’t have. Make sure your glass is half full, not half empty. This is a stance you take in life. It is not a random attitude. But with just a little bit of practice, that becomes an attitude you can easily ick to. Let’s put it this way. If I can think like this in my present position, I would hope that you all can do the same. I would even ask you to do this for me. Take that stance in life for me and from me, and concentrate always on the positive.
So then, this is how things are shaping up for me in my present headspace…. I feel I have burned brightly in life, and lived life very fully. I feel I have achieved a great deal in life. And as I look back on the life I have lived, I am concentrating on all of the positive aspects, on all of the beauty I have experienced and generated, and getting a lot of satisfaction and pleasure from that thought and reality. And the fact that my life is shorter than it might have been ceases to trouble me very much.
I do want to encourage you, that when you do stuff, and get into projects in life, make sure you have the maximum amount of fun and satisfaction you can have. Don’t settle for just a bit of fun. You might have heard the saying ‘More is less’. Well, that only applies sometimes. Often, more really is more. And when it comes to getting satisfaction from creative projects you are involved with, you can bet that more is more, so grab the moment and make the moment big.
One very amazing thing about my position right now is how I get a clear insight into my own situation at this exact time. What is coming at me is very much eyes wide open and sort of in slow motion. In the time left to me, I get to contemplate my life, and to ponder about what I would like to do in the time left to me. This is so different from many people’s end. A lot of people die in very random ways, in car crashes for example, suddenly, with no time to plan for anything or even to blink for a minute and ask themselves any important last questions. It is just splat and it’s over. I on the other hand, get all sorts of time to mentally prepare myself for what is happening to me. I can make a wish list of things I want to do in my last days here. Who do I want to spend time with? Are there things I want to finish up? Things I want to see? My end is near, but I have the feeling that it is also not going to happen super quickly. The doctors have a pretty good handle on how things transpire, and I do get the sense that time will not be moving too quickly on me here. Of course I have to be prepared for anything, but I still have time to focus and be myself and live as myself for the time left to me.
I want to finish by saying that I am totally open to communication these days. So if there is anything any of you want to say to me, or to share with me, or to ask me, etc, etc, please go ahead and do that. I cannot read your minds. But I can sure share perspectives and conversation if you get it started.
The very best, from the very edge….
Oli
February 24, 2008
Hi Folks,
Well, it has been a tremendously eventful week. The Olifiddle benefit took place last Monday/Tuesday at Hugh’s Room in Toronto,
with friends coming in from across the country to show their support. I was lucky to be out of the hospital, so I could be there both nights,
and got to see and meet so many friends old and new, and to play with some dear old musical friends. I did a solo spot, and played with the Stewed Tomatoes,
Michele George, Casey Sokol and Anne Lindsay on their sets.
CBC “Canada Live” taped the second evening. That will be aired sometime later this year, possibly April. I will keep you informed.
In any case, I want to send out a huge heartfelt THANK-YOU to all who participated in this event, in so many ways. The event gave me a huge boost and
infusion of love as well as money to survive. The feeling of community was overwhelming in the best of ways. Throughout my illness, so many of you have been
very present for me. And it was magical to see and feel you all gathered in one room together. It felt like a great big family gathering.
And what’s a family gathering without kids! A big part of Olifiddle for me was the presence of my BC youth group The Twisted String.
Chelsea Sleep and Emilyn Stam, the two leaders of the new generation of The Twisted String had been organizing in secret since November to try to get the
whole group (old cohorts and new cohorts) out to Toronto for the benefit. They sent out a Canada-wide fundraising letter, outlining their impossible dream
(that was going to be 35 kids coming to Toronto, a massive undertaking to be sure). But dreams are meant to be dreamed, and the girls persevered, and Canada
stepped up to the plate. In the end, 21 young folks came to the benefit concert. Canadians, and fiddle friends as far away as Australia donated Aeroplan points
and money for these young folks to fulfill their (and my) dream. Many folks in Toronto helped out, organizing and providing billets, rides to/from the airport, etc.
And the crazy thing about it was that Emilyn and Chelsea kept the wool pulled over my eyes until late January. I simply didn’t have a clue. Apparently, there had
been talk of it on the radio, on Facebook and msn, it was common knowledge to my entire circle of friends, and I did not know. Clues would come in to my
hospital room, and my own mother would act baffled and surprised. (She knew.) Wonderful!
And it was wonderful to see and hear The Twisted String in Toronto.
They played fantastically and won over the hearts of so many Torontonians. Not only did they play the benefits, and do concerts and clinics at many schools
throughout the week, but they did a typical Twisted String thing ‘Random Acts of Violins’ taking the music to the street. After a show at Princess Margaret Hospital,
they took their instruments (and wild costumes of course) into the subway and played their way down to Union Station, to the delight of TTC travelers. After buzzing
Union Station, they stormed the CBC building, where they played in the resonant atrium and did interviews.
Later in the week, I managed to have a few teaching sessions with them in my little apartment (that was a space challenge); we learned some new tunes I had
written for them recently and finished on Friday night with a fiddle party and potluck. The Twisted Stringers have all gone home now, and there is a lot to
remember and reminisce about. And sleep to be slept!
During the whole week, I was still going down to Princess Margaret Hospital for blood transfusions. On Friday, I was informed that the Bone Marrow Coordinator
wanted to talk with me. Well, the good news was that the donor from last year is still on board and they have a date for my transplant set: March 13th. I am to
go into the hospital on March 7th for preparatory chemo and radiation. I have to stay healthy until then, and so I am keeping many fingers and toes crossed.
But after Olifiddle, I have no agenda right now beyond staying healthy.
Thank you again, friends and musicians across Canada for your overwhelming generosity and kindness and yes, love over the past months, culminating in
Olifiddle 2. I feel so part of the fabric of community, and feel my presence here on this plane is so appreciated and honoured, that it gives me tons of
strength and fighting spirit to face the upcoming challenges. My Bone Marrow Transplant is far from a sure bet. I am in a very high risk group.
But at least I have come to this point, and they are giving me another chance at it after the abortive attempt last fall. I continue to enjoy life to the fullest day by day.
Blessings to you all,
Oliver
January 20, 2008
OLIFIDDLE
Benefit Concert for Oliver Schroer
February 18 & 19, 2008
Host Mon: Stuart Maclean
Host Tues: Shelagh Rogers
James Keelaghan,Ben Grossman,October Browne,Anne Lederman,Jaime RT,Ian Bell, Steafan Hannigan & Saskia Tomkins, Anne Lindsay, Stewed Tomatoes,Two Left
$35 / $40 Visit hughsroom.com
HELP BRING TWISTED STRING TO OLIFIDDLE IN FEBRUARY 2008
To whom it may concern;
We are on a seemingly impossible mission, but are passionate about our goal and confident in the generosity of individuals and businesses throughout the great country of Canada and further.
Our dear friend and mentor, Canadian musician and composer Oliver Schroer, is in his fourth round of Chemotherapy treatment for Leukemia at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. This great man has been helping others for years, and now we would like to help him.
Oliver Schroer has been a huge inspiration to many of Canada's youth over the past several years. He has gone into small communities that normally wouldn't have the opportunity to work with professionals such as himself, and poured out endless love and energy. He has used his talents and resources as a producer, composer, and musician to educate, but more importantly, inspire youth. Because of Oliver, there are countless children, as young as 7 years old, composing pieces of music that are coherent, unique and creative. Through his encouragement, young children have formed their own folk bands, such as the "Klezmer Katz" and the "Truffles Tune Band", which are run completely by these inspired children under the age of 13.
Oliver has spent the past four years, among many other things, directing two groups of talented young fiddlers from British Columbia in a project he named “The Twisted String”. The idea was to produce a group of energetic youth to perform Oliver’s new, multi-part compositions that he would normally only be able to perform live by using electronics such as a loop and effects pedal. The group has been very successful, performing at numerous festival and venues around BC and recording a CD, receiving rave reviews wherever they go.
Since Oliver relocated to Toronto for treatment in March, two of the older members of the two groups have created yet another generation of Twisted String groups. Many of the members Oliver has yet to meet, yet the group members feel they know him through the music and look forward to meeting him someday.
Oliver thrives on giving and building relationships with people. Though these relationships often start as musical ones, Oliver takes the time to pay attention to his students' other interests. Many times he has been seen discreetly giving a child a book by a favourite author, a cd by a mutually favoured musician, or quality art supplies to a budding artist. He has even given away his own favourite high quality bow and lent out 2 of his own professional grade violins to students in need.
Oliver Schroer is not just a world class musician, but a self-less giver, who has spent years encouraging others. Now it is time for us to give to and encourage him.
We have just been notified that in February there will be a benefit concert for Oliver in Toronto. It was an immediate dream for the Twisted String members to be in Toronto to perform at the benefit in support of Oliver, and visit Oliver in the hospital, inspiring him to keep on fighting and encourage him with our joy of his music.
In total there are 20 fiddlers from the original project, and 15 from the second generation of fiddlers. Some of the older members have jobs and will be able to afford their flight, but most are in high school or just starting university and will not be able to make the trip without major financial assistance. Due to the lack of time, it will be impossible to achieve this goal without outside help. There is next to no time for us to put together fundraiser concerts and earn the money ourselves, though we will attempt to do this also.
Oliver has told us how much the Twisted String project means to him. What higher honour could we show him, than to bring his groups of fiddlers to him, playing and enjoying his music? What more encouragement to keep fighting and survive the battle of cancer than the inspiration of younger generations following in his footsteps? We know that for him to meet the generation of Twisted String and be re-united with the old one will be priceless to him, and inspire him to keep going in the fight for his life.
If you can in any way provide assistance to our cause, in the form of ideas and fundraising suggestions, financial support or flight donations, we, along with Oliver Schroer, would be eternally grateful.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Chelsea Sleep and Emilyn Stam
On behalf of The Twisted String
Emilyn Stam
105 Twinflower Way
Salt Spring Island BC
V8K 1R4
emilyn.stam@hotmail.com
1-250-538-7267
Chelsea Sleep
RR 10 215 Grandview Heights
Gibsons BC
V0N 1V3
chelsea_sleep@yahoo.ca
1-604-886-3891
OLIVER’S LEUKEMIA PROGRESS REPORT, DECEMBER 2007
(Click here for Orange Ribbon Project information)
I am currently in Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto on my third round of chemo, trying to kill off a nasty and persistent leukemia before I undergo a Bone Marrow Transplant. I was scheduled to go in for a transplant on November 2nd, but I was called in to my oncologist’s office on the evening of the 1st, and he came in with a long face and confirmed that my leukemia was back, and I had slipped out of remission. This is not good. It means that the leukemia is persistent and nasty, and has probably become drug resistant. So they hit me hard with a 3rd round of chemo, to try to eradicate the disease. They cannot do a Bone Marrow Transplant if there is any leukemia in the system. It won’t work. And seeing as I get one bullet, as it were, I want to make sure that the bullet has the best chance of working. Hence the 3rd round of chemo. I can only hope that my donor will still be on board when I am ready for that transplant. Theoretically, I have a matched but non-related donor. But they could change their mind or be otherwise indisposed when I am finally ready for them.
I will probably be in the hospital for Xmas. I tend to be aplastic in response to chemo. This means that my bone marrow shuts down and doesn’t produce anything – none of the good stuff I need, like hemoglobin (good for oxygen absorption) and platelets (good for clotting) and white blood cells (fighting disease). So when they let me out of the hospital, I have no immune system, and I am effectively a hemophiliac. I have to take many antibiotics and I have to avoid crowds (germs) so that my lack of an immune system is not tested. I am dodging bullets these days. Any common little germ could lay me low. When I was out of the hospital before my 3rd round of chemo, I came down with a fever very suddenly. It turned out to be an e coli infection, and I was in Toronto General for a week, fighting this thing off and feeling like I was running on one cylinder.
This chemo has not been quite as brutal in terms of side effects to my stomach. Last time around I had a lot of problems and could not eat, threw up tons, etc. This time, the stomach is much calmer, but I have terrible mouth sores, which is quite a tribulation. But if that is what it takes to overcome this cancer, I will happily undergo it. My lips are 3 times their normal size and I look quite the sight.
Orange Ribbon Project
Chelsea Sleep, on the sunshine coast, has been relentlessly campaigning and motivating on my behalf. Her latest idea is Orange Ribbon Project. Go Chelsea, and thanks to everybody who has signed on.
The "Orange Ribbon Project" is to help raise Oliver Schroer and leukemia awareness. Oliver is a Canadian fiddler/composer who is fighting leukemia. He is also mentor to many (including me) and one of my dearest friends who has given a lot of support to myself and many other fiddlers through the years. Now I'm trying to give a little of that back to him at a time when he really needs it.
I've been adding a bright orange ribbon (Oli’s favourite colour) to the scrolls of all my students and fellow fiddler's violin’s who know at least one Oli tune (this does not exclude other instruments either.) Those who didn't already know an Oli tune were taught one and then given a ribbon. For those of you who don't know an Oli tune, I've attached an easy one here called A Song for all Seasons (The Prayerful Hymn). I'm using this one because it is simple enough even for beginners (take out the drone notes and doesn't look so scary!). This tune is on Oliver's soon to be released "Hymns and Hers" album and a snippit of the completed recording can be heard at www.oliverschroer.com/music.htm
I'm hoping this campaign will help spread Oli tunes REALLY fast, and also get people knowing about Oli who don't already. If you're not a fiddler, you can still help by spreading the word by forwarding this message on to all your friends, especially musicians.
Thank you for your support :)
Chelsea Sleep
OLIFIDDLE 2008
There is serious talk floating around of having another Olifiddle benefit concert at Hugh’s Room in mid-February 2008. It would be one evening, and the theme would be music by Oliver. So performers would be doing takes on Oli-tunes. With any luck, if the Bone Marrow Transplant goes ahead on a decent schedule, I could be there for that event. I would love to be. It will be way too much fun.
DONATING MARROW
Marrow Donors are still needed, folks. If you are healthy and under the age of 50, the Canadian Registry is looking for you to sign up for this programme.
How does it work?
Well, that branch of medicine has come a long way, and today’s donation is a far cry from the old way. They used to take a big honking horse needle, put you under general anesthetic, and draw a litre of marrow out of your hip bone. Ouch!
That was then. Now, they work with stem cells, those magical little things that can become anything in the body. Stem cells are in your normal blood, and can thus be harvested by normal blood-taking procedures. They give the donor a drug to help boost stem cell production, and then they draw their blood, centrifuge the stem cells, and reintroduce the blood to the donor. The donor is fully conscious for this procedure, and leaves minus 250cc of fluid, a far cry from the old litre of marrow. So the pain and difficulty is gone – but the need persists, so be generous and sign up. Chances are you will never be called. But Canada lags far behind some other countries like Germany in their Bone Marrow Registry. Someone down the line will deeply appreciate your generosity.
www.blood.ca
