11.12.08
Emru and Tamu Townsend, December 1973 sourced from Heal Emru
Emru Townsend, writer, technophile, father, son, brother, passed away last night a little before 10pm last night. Emru was diagnosed with leukemia just last December. He spent the bulk of 2008 blogging about his life with the disease and encouraging people around the world to register as bone marrow donors with the assistance of his sister Tamu.
Emru’s short 38 years on this earth seemed so much longer because of the seemingly super-human way he lived life. He accomplished much and touched everyone he came in contact with, even if it was virtually. In his very last year he packed in more life than many do in a lifetime. He worked tirelessly for the marrow registry, created a huge community of other people needing bone marrow transfusions, identified a potential match in the summer, got a transplant in September, all before he finally succumbed to the disease less than a year after his diagnosis.
Emru leaves us with an amazing legacy that includes a memory of someone who had a knack for cheering everyone else up even when he should have the recipient of said cheer.
If you’d like to honor Emru’s memory, please please please register with your national bone marrow registry. You may be able to save a life like Emru’s.
Links:
- National Marrow Donor Program - the US bone marrow registry organization
- Heal Emru - Emru’s leukemia blog
- Heal Emru’s Facebook Group
- 5×5 Media - Emru’s media website
- Frames Per Second Magazine - Emru’s animation magazine
- EcoDigital - Emru’s digital green site
- Michael Franti and Spearhead : “Say Hey” video - the most current song Emru listened to before his death and the way that Tamu and Emru’s wife Vicky ask you remember Emru–happy, full of life and love
