680News - Lisa Brandt

It’s touching to read that nearly 2,000 people came out to help a stranger on the weekend.

Carolyn Tam has leukemia and her survival depends on finding a bone marrow donor. It’s not easy to find a match and after her plight was publicized, hundreds and hundreds of people came forward to agree to testing.

I went through this process many years ago for my friend Joe who has myloid leukemia. Joe’s story was well covered in the Hamilton area - you may have heard of it. Joe was adopted and although his birth father has four daughters, and there’s a one in four chance a sibling would be a perfect match, the entire family refused to get tested because Joe was, in their words, “not family.” These people professed to be “good people” but they denied Joe because he was born of a relationship before the man married. It boggled our minds.

So Joe hosted, and I attended, a lot of bone marrow donor information nights. We were happy to have signed up thousands of people to the international registry. It’s very quick, simple and could help anyone anywhere at any time. But none of them could help Joe.

Once you’re signed up you can still back out at any time right up until the patient’s own bone marrow is destroyed in preparation for the transfer. As the donor, you end up with brief flu-like symptoms.

I have been in the registry for more than a decade and I was called once to be told I was a partial match and they were going to conduct further testing if I still agreed that I would donate. I couldn’t say YES fast enough. Who wouldn’t want to save someone’s life? But I never heard from them again. That could mean that the final testing showed I wasn’t a good enough match, or that the patient didn’t make it.

And that’s one of the problems with conducting a search for a donor. Often times the patient or family don’t want to consider a donor until it’s the last resort and then, it may be too late. There’s a window of opportunity when it’s most likely to “take.” So if the patient doesn’t make it, it can appear that the donation wasn’t worth it. That is absolutely not the case, and once your information is in the Unrelated Blood Donor Registry, you’re available to help someone when they need it most.

Your part is brief. You give a bit of blood and answer a few questions, but testing in the lab takes some time. In Ms. Tam’s case, they’re looking for a donor of Chinese descent and the way the community responded is tremendous. Now, the anxious wait for test results.

Meanwhile, if you’re at all interested, google “bone marrow donation” and get the facts from a reputable source. I know people who have done it and the feeling of helping someone with something your body makes naturally, is a true high. On behalf of my friend Joe and Ms. Tam, I wish you’d look into it.

Last night we celebrated the 15th birthday of this radio station’s all-news format with a wonderful party at the beautiful Palais Royale on the Lakeshore. It was a gorgeous, warm evening to linger outside by the water amid the palm trees…yes, palm trees! Inside, the Palais is lovely and the staff are attentive and wonderful.

It was a special night to say thank you to 680’s clients for being a part of the station’s tremendous success. It’s not often that most of us get under the same roof outside of work and it was a very festive atmosphere.

The food was excellent. I especially enjoyed the chocolate fountain. There is no dainty way to shove a piece of watermelon in your pie hole, when it’s dripping liquid chocolate so I made sure that my emcee duties with Paul Cook were over before I truly indulged! I noticed it was a very popular spot on the buffet circuit and it’s no wonder.

I have to confess that when 680News signed on the air back in 1993, I was working at a competing radio station in this market, and I couldn’t see the wisdom in changing all-hits CFTR to this crazy all-news format!

It was, admittedly, a bit of a bumpy start - that tends to happen to pioneers - but over the years it found its way and eventually attracted enough listeners to become the number one radio station in the country. And it became must-listen-radio in my own home before I started here in 1999. I’m immensely proud of the work we do and of my colleagues who do it. Kudos to them and thanks to you for listening.

For the record: Paul Bernardo is worse than scum. He’s a soulless murderer whom we will never forget took the lives of three young girls, with their whole futures stolen from them in the most hideous and disgusting of ways. He doesn’t deserve to share our air and no matter what he does or how he ever claims to rehabilitate or reform himself (if he ever does) he deserves no mercy for what he has done.

I hope that makes it clear that what I’m about to write is in no way a defence of Bernardo. It’s in defence of the truth.

Some of my broadcasting colleagues on other stations are taking huge liberties with the interview tape now released to the media. It behooves each and every one of us to watch the entire tape before going to air with a comment on what it contains.

I heard one news anchor on a competitor play a snippet of tape on which Bernardo can be heard waffling on the answer to the question: “Did you kill Elizabeth Bain.?” He whines about the way Karla Homolka’s account of their crimes is the one that’s on the record, but she is lying. He says so many people think HE is lying that he doesn’t see the point in telling the truth.

However, later in the interview, he emphatically claims he didn’t kill Bain. That fact was never explained by the news anchor. He let the waffling hang in the air as if it was Bernardo’s only comment on the case. It was misleading and possibly meant to be that way. Either that or it was just very sloppy.

It’s not our job to tell you what to think about things. It’s our job to present things to you and let you make up your own mind. And that means offering the truth as we know it, even if it makes us personally ill, or goes against a natural human desire that many of us have to think nothing positive of someone who could do something so heinous. Not that we necessarily believe a word he has to say, of course, but, like it or not, he said it and it is our duty to say so.

It’s not enough that you have to endure the painful process of paying more for gas than ever before, now you have to have someone talking to you, incessantly, while you do it.

Ads and other info projected on TV screens at gas pumps are nothing new. In my view, it’s just more noise. You walk through a grocery store anymore and some pitchman or woman is barking out from a screen, touting the latest doodad or imported item. They replace live people in some department stores and invade the potentially brief relief from sound almost anywhere people gather.

It brings to mind a part of our job that some people don’t understand. Because we do a lot of writing, sometimes we need to stop and think. I may appear that for a few seconds or even a couple of minutes, one of us is doing nothing and others may choose that moment to stop and visit or chat. But it’s a valuable part of the writing process, just like a few minutes at a quiet gas pump could be a respite from the cacophony of everyday life! But we’re being robbed of that.

And for the first time, a political party is going to take advantage of this assault on our senses. The ruling federal party, to be exact - the Conservatives - have unleashed attack ads on Liberal Leader Stephane Dion. Let me be clear: I don’t care which party is attacking whom - that’s not the issue! It’s not a politically motivated comment. It’s a wishing-for-some-quiet-time comment.

I believe that there may be a backlash against this type of non-election advertising and where it is being aired, while you’re helplessly emptying your wallet for some gas. But your reaction is up to you. I just know that I long for a little peace and quiet sometimes…somewhere!

Here we go. Sticky, hot and humid temperatures with a humidex advisory that will push the thermometer reading into the 40s. This is tropical weather coming from the Gulf of Mexico, and some love it and some hate it.

I’ve recently been diagnosed with allergy-related asthma, so that helps explain why breathing on the spare the air days has been more difficult than it used to be. Except for my misguided youth, I’ve been a bit of a shade-finding, sunscreen-layering maniac whenever I go outside - even - as dermatologists recommend - in the winter.

Now we know the damage that the sun can do to our skin in the form of melanoma and other problems, even as we understand that we do need sunlight for good health. (fortunately vitamin D supplements can substitute!) Experts say baking exposed skin for hours in strong rays is just not wise for anyone of any age.

If you’re like me about the sun - admittedly particular and fussy - you know that it’s difficult to even get entirely shaded under a patio umbrella. And even a brief outdoor swim puts you in the eye of the great golden orb, no matter what precautions you take.

Barbecuing dinner in this weather sends the body temperature soaring. You can’t walk the dog very far, because he’ll overheat.

So tell me, unless you’re a kid who has no perspective on the way today’s behavior can impact their future health, please tell me who these people are who really like this weather, and why?

We on the morning show, and on every other morning show with which I’ve ever been associated, are obsessed with sleep. We talk about how little we got, how tired we are and what kept us up. We hate fireworks displays that go off near our homes at dusk because, with wake-up times between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m., we’re already in bed. We allow each other to whine and crab for a few seconds after we first arrive and then we get on with it, because we really do love our jobs.

The latest to warn us that we’re not getting enough shut-eye is the American Sleep Association. They say that if you need caffeine to perk up, you’re sleep deprived. A week ago, another researcher said that if you fall asleep within ten minutes of hitting the pillow, you’re sleep deprived.

My question is, who is not sleep deprived? Everyone I know, whether they get up at 2 a.m. or at 7 a.m., whether they’re a stay-at-home parent or working 18-hour days, says they’re not getting enough sleep.

And what’s getting blamed? Longer work hours, commuting farther than we used to and more types of technology that keep us in touch with others, often into the wee hours of the night. Those hours could be better used in dreamland, say the experts.

The fallout could be several diseases such as diabetes, obesity and depression. Not to mention driving mistakes causing crashes, because of fatigue.

Experts say we have to stop viewing sleep as lost time, and start planning to get eight to 10 hours a night. But that just isn’t realistic for many of us. See you at the coffee shop!

Lots of discussion about fashion this morning in the wake of the death of fashion icon Yves Saint Laurent. The legendary French designer was responsible for creating the first tuxedo for women and for making elegant pantsuits that didn’t merely mimic what men were wearing. At 71, he is the last of a generation that included the names Dior and Chanel and over the years, the who’s who of fashionistas sashayed down red carpets wearing his gowns.

I’ve been on the planet a while, but I don’t think I understand the world of fashion yet. The crazy stuff that goes down the runway (thankfully) doesn’t trickle down to my local retailer. But it’s not so easy to find something different.

This season, for women, it’s all empire waists and maternity-look tops which is fine if you’re 25 and a stick-person, but if you are a little older and your ribs are not protruding, they just make you look pregnant. Many of my contemporaries don’t seem to care because they wear them anyway. Others are just avoiding them altogether - but it’s a major challenge to find something else for a non-club-going female that’s not appliqued with kittens or tulips. If one store has a “look” the rest tend to leap on board.

What’s wonderful about bigger designers is their classic looks. You spend a little more, but you get something that looks wonderful for years to come, even if maternity wear happens to be the current trend. But even if you have only worn Levis and flannel jackets since high school, the fashion industry still impacts your life, even if it’s only because it changes the looks of the people you see.

Just when you think you’ve heard it all about airlines, comes the story of the disallowed pendant.

This week has been particularly tough for air carrier news. US Airways has decided to discontinue snacks to save money. A new survey of US Airways travellers finds many are deciding to stay out of the friendly skies because of problems with security and ridiculous delays.

Having flown on several major airlines recently, I can relate. Most were pretty wonderful, but my experience on one U.S. airline was so horrible, I will never fly with them again. They overbooked and we were delayed about an hour, while they begged for volunteers to take later flights, and then finally had to delete the last three people who registered. And they were quite loud in their disapproval! We boarded the plane amid the screams of one woman with a connecting flight: “I AM GETTING ON THAT PLANE!” It was stressful for all.

Now a Toronto University student was deemed a potential security risk before she boarded a flight out of Kelowna, B.C. because of her pendant in the shape of a gun. It’s just a wee thing, about the size of two fingernails. Even if it were a James Bond-style operable weapon, which it clearly is not, there is no way you could get anything but a toothpick in to pull the trigger! Certainly not even the tiniest pinky would fit. It’s totally ridiculous to consider the thing anything but a piece of jewellery.

Even the student in question doesn’t blame the security guard for being overzealous - she blames a black-and-white system that doesn’t allow airport security to use their own judgment. A five-centimetre silver pendant in the shape of a gun is still a gun and therefore is not allowed on board. There is no provision in the rules for an inoperable little bullet-less adornment. And that’s the dumb part.

The woman has received an official apology from the Canadian Air Transport Authority. But it just makes you wonder what they’ll decide is dangerous next.

So the Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier has been forced to resign under a cloud of scandal. And the Prime Minister continues to act like the “speak no evil” monkey about the situation. This is the same leader who has put significant energy into controlling the country’s media and its access to revelations about everything governmental on Parliament Hill.

Bernier gets a lot of attention because of his relative youth and his good looks. Hey, it’s equal time for men, after so many women in politics have attracted reams of ink over what they wear and how they do their hair. Bernier is a divorced father of two at the age of 45. He may be camera-friendly, but he’s also a bit of a loose cannon who has made a series of rather serious political gaffes, the latest being a promise to send a planeful of supplies to Myanmar - a plane that wasn’t available. That sent the Hill into a scramble to find a substitute jet to make good on his promise.

Now Bernier’s ex-girlfriend is revealing more than she showed on the day of his swearing-in, when he, apparently, chose her dress. She says he left classified documents behind and she didn’t turn them in for five weeks. (Was she a slow reader?) She claims her bed was bugged and her life has been ruined.

What a mess! The opposition wants an inquiry. The PM has already received Bernier’s resignation. This is getting loads of coverage overseas and it remains to be seen if it will have a negative impact on our image. Will the Prime Minister continue to claim that nothing is wrong, that the personal lives of his ministers is none of his business, that people should just move along and carry on as normal? He can say whatever he wants, but that doesn’t make it so.

Boy, I don’t like having to call in “sick.” Whatever I’ve got - a very wicked spring cold or some such thing - would not allow me to fully function in my job today, that’s for sure. There was no question that my only activity this Monday would be visiting a doctor. This “thing” ended my weekend before it was halfway through and sent me to bed during one of the most beautiful days of the spring so far.

Experts continue to say it: wash your hands! I was startled to learn that antibacterial gels don’t kill the pesky C. difficile virus, but regular soap-washing will. More and more I see people using paper towels to push washroom doors open and just generally behaving more carefully about what they touch, and acting more aware of how many hands may have touched it before. Taps with sensors and automatic hand-dryers are the norm rather than the exception.

One phenomenon I’m suddenly seeing occasionally, especially in my North York neighbourhood, is women - mostly younger women - wearing surgical face masks. I’ve seen a few on transit and others simply walking down the street. I don’t know what it is they’re trying to prevent, but last I heard, SARS was long gone and there’s no expected imminent arrival of bird flu. Perhaps we simply have some overly concerned germaphobes in our midst. I don’t think they know anything we don’t know. And we know from the experts that beyond everything else - including sneezing into your arm and avoiding breathing in shared air - hand-washing prevents most germs from spreading.