For some, a simple thank you gets the job done, but for others, words are not enough to express their gratitude.  It is for this reason that Celeste Tompkins organized Howie’s Bone Marrow Transplant Unit Charity Event, which will take place at the Gold Creek Golf Club in Dawsonville on June 15. 

The tournament is being held in honor of Tompkins’ father, Harold Tompkins of Dawsonville, who was diagnosed with AML Leukemia in January of 2006 and spent four months in the Blood & Marrow Transplant (BMT) Unit at Northside Hospital.  Proceeds from the event will benefit Northside’s Blood & Marrow Transplant Program.  

“I have never seen a medical team that cares so much about their patients. I know that without them, their kindness, understanding and patience, my dad may not be alive today,” Celeste Tompkins said.  “Now dad is out of the hospital and doing good. This was the least we could do to give something back to them.” 

A bone marrow transplant is the recommended treatment for diseases that affect the bone marrow function by producing too many immature or defective blood cells, or too few blood cells.  These diseases include leukemia, severe aplastic anemia, Hodgkin’s disease, non-Hodgkin’s disease, lymphoma, multiple myeloma and other blood disorders.  The procedure requires that the patient, and usually their family, stay close to the hospital for at least three to four weeks or in the Tompkins’ case, months.  For the families, these months can be a very difficult and draining time, physically, mentally and financially.  

This is the second year for the golf tournament.  Last year’s event raised more than $20,000 for the Blood & Marrow Transplant Program at Northside.  Proceeds are used to help provide insurance, medicine, transportation and lodging for patients and their families that are in need. 

“We were fortunate enough financially and lucky enough to have so much support from family and friends, but there were so many people in and out of that unit that were not so lucky,” Tompkins said.  “We just want to give back to all those who helped us and also to help others that will have to go through it.”  

Northside Hospital was the first community hospital in Georgia to perform unrelated-donor allogeneic bone marrow transplants.  The Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at Northside Hospital is one of the largest clinical transplant programs in the southeastern United States with a 17 bed HEPA filtered unit and 10,000 square foot outpatient clinic.  The Program serves patients undergoing bone marrow/stem cell transplant therapy and provides primary leukemia management. 

For more information about Howie’s Bone Marrow Transplant Unit Charity Event, please contact Celeste Tompkins at (706) 265-2240. 

The Northside Hospital health care delivery system is a not-for-profit health care provider that has served north Metro Atlanta for more than three decades. With more than 1,800 physicians on its medical staff, Northside cares for more than 400,000 patients a year. Our physicians and staff provide a full range of health care services, including women’s services, cancer care, emergency services, surgery, specialty medicine and a wide array of outpatient services at many locations. Northside Hospital offers high-quality health care at Northside Hospital-Atlanta in Sandy Springs, at Northside Hospital-Cherokee in Canton and at Northside Hospital-Forsyth in Cumming.