Canadian Hemochromatosis Society
| Marie Warder | |
|---|---|
Marie Warder
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|
| Born |
Marie Van Zyl alt Marie Van Zijl April 30, 1927 Ficksburg, South Africa |
| Died | October 20, 2014 (aged 87) Tsawwassen, British Columbia |
| Nationality | South African, Canadian |
| Occupation | Journalist and author |
| Known for | Hemochromatosis activism |
Marie Warder (born Marie van Zyl, April 30, 1927 – October 20, 2014) was a journalist, novelist and activist best known for her activities raising awareness about hemochromatosis. Warder founded the Hemochromatosis Society of South Africa, and the Canadian Hemochromatosis Society (CHS), and was founder and long-time president of the International Association of Hemochromatosis Societies (IAHS), writing the detailing leaflets for them all, which meant that, at that stage, every publication of the Canadian Hemochromatosis Society carried the footnote: "Produced for the International Association of Haemochromatosis Societies."
Any emerging or fledgling hemochromatosis society in other parts of the world was free to use her material, with due acknowledgement to the IAHS. Later, Guy Fernau, founder of the Haemochromatosis Society in the United Kingdom, related how, before his own material could be prepared, he only needed to scan the Canadian pamphlet and change the spelling.
Warder was born Marie van Zyl in Ficksburg, South Africa in 1927. She married Tom Warder when she was 19 and he 21, upon his return from active service in World War II, and later moved with him to Canada. Tom was diagnosed with hemochromatosis in 1975, and their daughter was diagnosed with the same disorder in 1979. These two events spurred Warder to become an activist, raising awareness of this disorder within the medical community and the general public.
Warder’s first editor was once heard to say that his young protégée must have been born with printer’s ink in her veins for her journalistic "career" began at the age of nine when she won first prize in a province-wide essay competition launched by the administrator of what was then known as "the Orange Free State" in South Africa. The subject she chose was “The Natural Order of Lepidoptera” and the prize was a Queen Victoria silver penny of the kind given to deserving poor people as part of a religious ceremony held on the Thursday before Easter.
In February 1939, having already written a play, The Secret of the Kennels for the SABC children's program Young Ideas the previous year, Warder began writing stories for local newspapers, selling her first story to the Cape Argus at age 12. In 1944, she had had two stories published in the British magazine Everybody's and later wrote for several South African periodicals.
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