User:Murrela

MARIE WARDER

The South African/Canadian who made the world aware of Hemochromatosis - the most common genetic disorder
All in all, it seemed that she had a good career ahead of her in her native South Warder Africa, but when—just before her 17th birthday—Tom Warder,(Frederick Abinger (Tom) Warder) a handsome, tanned young man in an Air Force uniform walked into the newspaper office one day, her life changed radically. It was a clear case of ‘love at first sight’ and, after that meeting, her life would revolve about him. She played the piano in Tom’s very popular dance band; he was wholeheartedly supportive of her writing. And whenever there was a sword fight to be fought in a novel, or a chess game to be played, it would be her husband who worked out the moves for her.

When he was 42, he suddenly became ill and, as she tells in the book, The Bronze Killer, they had come to the end of the good times. For more than 28 years after that, except for a series of travel articles for a magazine she devoted her literary efforts entirely to the writing of more than 200 articles on the subject of Hemochromatosis, and to the production of patient literature for individuals, hospitals and other medical facilities. Her newsletters and brochures have gone out to more than 16 countries. Late in 2003, motivated by the discovery of the tattered scraps of the only carbon copy of the long-lost manuscript of a book, and believing that she had done all in her power to promote awareness of the world’s most common genetic disorder. she decided that she was ready to move on. Storm Water and With no remorse… were released simultaneously less than a year later. Elaine MurrayItalic text

''When you know that you know that you know! or The redemption of Benjamin Ashton'' (April 2005) caused a sensation. The response has been phenomenal. One reader describes it as “The best novel I have ever read!” Another reports that she read it “four times in less than a month”, and wished that it were “twice as long!” This about a book that contains 576 pages! The setting of that book is a citrus farm called ‘Beauclaire’, situated in the district of Nelspruit in South Africa, and, responding to the clamour for more about Benjamin (Ash) Ashton and his friends, ‘Dominic Verwey: Samaritan of the Sahara’—although of a different genre—continued the ‘Beauclaire saga’ in 2006.

About this book one reviewer wrote, “After the success of her South African novel, Tarnished Idols, Marie Warder has gone to the other end of Africa for the setting of her new one, Dominic Verwey - Samaritan of the Sahara. Mrs. Warder’s romantic imagination and facile pen provide plenty of local colour, and she captures the reader’s attention from start to finish. The very unusual theme concerns the adventures of a doctor in the Sahara who, besides being skilled with the scalpel, is also a dashing figure of the Robin Hood type. Well worth reading and highly recommended.”

Released on July 9, 2007 ‘The Yardstick’ this author’s 21st book, volume three of the gripping Beauclaire Saga, was her seventh book to be written in Canada. Although so much of the story is played out among the dunes of the Kalahari Desert of the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, the reader is also taken back to Nelspruit and Johannesburg, and will recognize some of the well-loved characters from When you know that you know that you know, as the Beauclaire saga continues. We find a disillusioned Benjamin Ashton—about to become a grandfather, forced to consider relocating the South African members of his family, which could well bring to an end what has been for them a blessedly happy era in the enthralling Beauclaire saga. At the same time, the integrity of Ben’s altruistic son, a physician, is severely tested as Jordan is unwillingly drawn into the sordid affairs of Tristan Connaught, the womanizing partner in their upscale practice near Johannesburg.

THE HAEMOCHROMATOSIS SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA (HSSA)
In 1987 Marie was interviewed by Toni Younghusband of the Johannesburg “Star”, which led to a story in “Personality”. Shortly after that, during a prolonged stay with her brother-in-law and sister, in Kimberley, Marie addressed the National Council of Women, the “TocH” and two chapters of Rotary, which provided her with the opportunity to launch the Haemochromatosis Society of South Africa. The Kimberley-based “Diamond Fields Advertiser” featured a comprehensive report on these activities, and no sooner had that appeared, than it transpired that all the other newspapers of the Argus group had picked up the “Star” article. News of the newly established society was most decidedly “out”. In 1997, Ten years later, to the day, she addressed the same National Council of Women group, in Beaconsfield.

As far as the Haemochromatosis Society of South Africa was concerned, the time that Tom and Marie Warder spent in South Africa at that time, had the promise of being extremely fruitful, and their efforts were enhanced by a number of circumstances, one of which was at the same time tragic, yet truly fortuitous. Mike McCann, a colourful, popular, and very well known journalist, was found to be suffering from Haemochromatosis only weeks before his death. So greatly was he revered and loved by his colleagues that they took turns to watch at his bedside, and it was one of them, Heidi Holland, who interviewed Marie. Her three-page story entitled “The Bronze Killer”, appeared together with a full-page colour photograph of Mike in the magazine supplement of the Johannesburg “Sunday Times.”

It just so happened that elsewhere, in that same issue of the newspaper, there was a review of the Hemingway biography (with a mention of Haemochromatosis) as well as the prominently placed story of a woman who had undergone premature menopause in her early thirties because of Haemochromatosis. After correct intervention on the part of an astute physician, she had made medical history by becoming the first woman ever to give birth after having been so badly afflicted by iron overload. The article was made more compelling by a picture of the new mother, her husband and infant son, with a charming footnote to the effect that the baby—later to be christened Christopher —was, at the time the photograph was taken, still being referred to as “Rusty”. As a consequence, media coverage relating to the disease and the establishment of the society was excellent; so was advance publicity for Marie’s book, which tied in with several stories. Once again it was the “The Bronze Killer” reference that had captured the attention of both the press and the public.

For a while after Tom’s death, in South Africa in 1992, she wanted nothing to do with Haemochromatosis, but when in 1993 she was invited to the first World Health Organization meeting on “The Prevention and Control of Haemochromatosis”, she accepted the invitation, and was very soon back on the campaign trail once more. Now, after devoting the best part of her life to Haemochromatosis, she is back to doing what she likes best … playing the piano and writing stories. … However, although she says that she has ‘let go of Haemochromatosis’, it will not let go of her. The phone still rings, and desperate people still call or write. … The tail still wags the dog.

In 2006, she marked the North American release of her 20th book, “Dominic Verwey—Samaritan of the Sahara”, but she continues the crusade to make physicians, everywhere, readily able to recognize the symptoms of the world’s most common genetic disorder. “Find us one person, and we have hope of saving a family,”Italic text is the motto of the societies she has founded.