Sandy & Chris Pablo
My hanai brother, Chris Pablo, was memorialized yesterday. It was a final public sendoff for a man who is the heart and soul of my book, The Marrow in Me. The picture on the cover is of me recreating Chris Pablo’s great golf ball discovery. For those who need a refresher, or those who are new to my blog and The Marrow in Me story, Chris found a special ball in his basket at the driving range some 14 years ago. The ball had the words BEAT LEUKEMIA stamped on the side. Chris was diagnosed with the same disease just weeks prior. Finding the ball gave him hope that he would find a cure for his cancer. He did, with a bone marrow transplant that came from a man missing most of his legs.
By the time we got around to creating the cover shot of The Marrow in Me, Chris wasn’t well enough to do it. So I did it for him. We’d lose Chris a month after the book was released, but he had a chance to read through much of it. He called to playfully scold me, “You kept me up all night and made me cry,” he said a few months back.
I’d be honored if you’d read the book to get to know the man behind the video clip below. Without Chris I never would have been a bone marrow donor myself. And because of Chris sharing his story, 86 other people searching for a bone marrow donor got their match and went to transplant too. The book is inspiring, witty, tragic and triumphant. Some have compared it to Tuesdays with Morrie. A sizable chunk of the proceeds is going to cancer treatment and research programs, including The Hawaii Bone Marrow Donor Registry, which played a key role in Chris’s transplant and mine. And if you really want to honor Chris, please click here to register as a potential bone marrow donor. That’s probably the best way we can honor his memory. Aloha and Mahalo, Kevin.
Watch Video Clip of Chris Pablo Memorial
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