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CAMINO: PAROW BUSINESSMAN RAISES MONEY FOR SABMR
Walking to save lives AVRIL FILLIES
N
ot every parent has the financial means to help their child if they are in need of a bone marrow transplant. Armed with only a GoPro and social media, Parow business owner Darren Combrink is attempting to tell the world: we can save children who are dying right now. He is walking his sixth Camino – Camino Del Norte – for the SA Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR), specifically for the next child patient in need. He starts his Camino on 18 June and completes it on 24 July. The Camino is 825km long, from Irún (Spain) to Santiago de Compostela (Spain). “I was walking the Camino in June 2017. I call it my spiritual Camino as I feel I was called to help children in need. The reveal happened in a beautiful forest with many little streams between the towns of Pola de Allande and Berducedo in the Asturias province in Spain. This year in January I was diagnosed with chicken pox and I was confined to my home and this got me thinking about my purpose for this year,” Darren says. One in 600 children in SA is diagnosed with cancer, most commonly leukaemia, every year. “The SABMR does preliminary donor searches for patients, should a match not be found within the immediate family. The SABMR works with registries in 75 countries, collectively listing over 31 million donors, increasing the chances of finding matching donors for SA patients. Medical aid plans do not always cover the additional costs, e.g. transport for the donor from a foreign country,” he says. In 2016 he walked the Camino Portuguese – 288km from Porto (Portugal) to Santiago de Compostela (Spain) – and Camino Ingles, 120km from Ferrol (Spain) to Santiago de Compostela (Spain). “Having walked these routes by no means makes my upcoming Camino an easy journey as the Del Norte is one of the toughest. The best part of the Camino is being out in nature. The Del Norte will be particularly beautiful along the north coast of Spain. Secondly, meeting fellow pilgrims from all over the world is always special to me.” V To page 2.
Darren Combrink in front of one of the cathedrals on the Camino.