@CTMPOfficial • BOWMANVILLE, ON – (July 9, 2015) Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is very proud to announce Oliver Ferguson as the Grand Marshal for this weekend’s Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix presented by Hawk Performance.
Five-year-old Oliver loves cars and is a motor-racing super-fan. Sadly, in October of 2014 Oliver was diagnosed with Autoimmune Hepatitis when his liver enzymes climbed to 120 times normal. After months of drug treatment, Oliver’s condition worsened and he was diagnosed with bone marrow failure, Severe Aplastic Anemia in March 2015. A month later, the cause was discovered, Dyskerotosis Congenita (DC); a very rare genetic disorder that affects only about 700 people around the world.
DC is a Telomere disorder. Telomeres are the caps that protect your chromosomes from harmful gene mutations. Oliver is awaiting genetic testing results to discover what genes are being mutated. This means that Oliver’s immune system is unable to protect him from many different kinds of illnesses, even the common cold can be deadly. He is currently fighting complete bone marrow failure, and is at constant risk of internal bleeding. Ollie is relying on weekly platelet and hemoglobin transfusions to stay alive.
Even if Oliver were to suffer a paper-cut his body would not be able to stop the bleeding.
Oliver is currently waiting for a bone marrow match at Sick Kids Hospital so they can proceed with a bone marrow transplant. Although he is unable to make physical contact with others, nothing will stop him from enjoying the sights and sounds of motor-racing this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
We are very proud to have this brave little-boy as our Grand Marshal for Canada’s biggest sports-car racing event of the year.
People can visit the ‘Olliestrong’ Facebook page as well as the crowd funding page, www.cookieejar.com/project/olliestrong.
Wrist bands will be on sale throughout Canadian Tire Motorsport Park during this weekend’s event with full proceeds going to Olliestrong.
For more information and to purchase tickets, please call the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park Hotline at 1-800-866-1072 (Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm ET), visit online at www.canadiantiremotorsportpark.com, or email info@ctmpark.com
For further information: Ryan Chalmers/ Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
ryan@ctmpark.com 800-866-1072 (office) (905) 260-1711 (cell)
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