Newmarket
August 02, 2008 09:02 PM
By: Amanda Persico
Ryan Daly was described as a poster boy.
He was slim, because he lost more than 120 pounds.
He was bald because he lost his hair.
He was in cancer remission twice, but he relapsed both times, but he always had that Daly charm.
“Doctors said he was the poster boy for leukemia. He fought the battle and encouraged others to keep fighting,” Ryan’s sister, Laura Daly, 31, said. “But every side effect you can think of, he had.”
It was almost two years to the day he was diagnosed with leukemia that Ryan died in April.
“Leukemia is usually found in children,” Laura said. “Twenty-seven-year-old men don’t get it.”
Five years ago, Laura and Ryan started the GetRecD golf tournament. Twenty people teed off in their parent’s back yard and raised more than $500 for charity.
“Everyone knows someone affected by cancer,” said Laura, a Newmarket resident.
The proceeds from the third GetRecD tournament went to leukemia research after Ryan was diagnosed with cancer of the blood.
“He fundraised for kids with cancer, before this,” she said.
Eight months before Ryan was diagnosed, his childhood friend, Darrin Moss, 29, was diagnosed with leukemia. Mr. Moss developed a more common form of the disease and went through the typical protocol for treatment.
He finished his chemotherapy treatment in 2007 and is in remission.
“We had our weekly phone calls,” he said. “‘How bad do you feel?’ ‘Oh, pretty bad.’ Every week.”
Ryan had a mixture of two types of leukemia and his body didn’t take to the treatment and bone marrow transplant.
The two friends ventured into unchartered territory, sharing pains and laughs while trying to organize the next golf tournament. The Daly charm continues through the golf tournament. His sister and best friend remember Ryan, bedridden and pale, asking the hospital caretaker if he needed help putting in light bulbs.
The tournament has raised more than $20,000 for leukemia research.
This year’s funds will be split between Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation for Cancer and the new Southlake Regional Cancer Centre.
GetRecD golf tournament — Aug. 16 at the Richmond Hill Golf Club. Shotgun start at 1:30 p.m. Dinner and silent auction at 6:30 p.m.
To donate to the Ryan Daly Foundation for leukemia research, visit
www.getrecd.org or contact
laura@getrecd.org