Diamonds for Rice

Eric Evans

Description

Diamonds for Rice tells the unique true story of a businessman, caught up in an African civil war, who bought his way out with a few bags of rice - traded for priceless diamonds. This gripping memoir covers the carnage in Africa, an amazing escape from the Orly bombing and two bone marrow transplants for Eric. This is a vivid account of Liberia's shameful past and the brutal civil war where rice was traded for valuable diamonds to pay for the last remaining air tickets. Ex-president Charles Taylor was sentenced to fifty years for war crimes - and is now serving that sentence in the UK.Diamonds for Ricealso describes the worldwide search for a bone marrow donor, who came to the rescue twice and saved Eric Evans from certain death. The ground-breaking medical story and the real-life dramas run side by side, involving the reader from the start.Gripping and honest about the realities about living with blood cancer,Diamonds for Ricewill particularly appeal to those who have been affected by it, as well as those considering joining the bone marrow donor register. It will also be enjoyed by those interested in history and memoirs. Anthony Nolan and DKMS, both global organisations, have contributed toDiamonds for Rice.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• África
• Memoir
• Africa

Informations

• Publié par: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 09 février 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781785895777
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

Copyright © 2018 Eric Evans

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study,
or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in
any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the
publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with
the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries
concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

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ISBN 9781785895777

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Matador® is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd

This book is dedicated to my daughters, Vicky and Louisa.

It is also dedicated to my bone marrow donor on two occasions, Axel Drewes. Axel calls me his genetic twin. He is my hero.








30% of the proceeds of this book will go to Anthony Nolan, Delete Blood Cancer UK and DKMS.
Contents
Introduction
Statement From DKMS
My Mission
Prologue
Excerpt To Make You Smile
Excerpt To Shock You

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen

Acknowledgements
Afterword By Roddie Fleming, Nephew Of James Bond Creator Ian Fleming
Anthony Nolan Afterword
Liberia Factfile
Tribute To The Slaves
Notes
Introduction
By Anthony Nolan, who twice helped to save Eric’s life
Every twenty minutes, someone in the UK finds out that they have blood cancer, like leukaemia. For many, a bone marrow transplant could be their only chance of survival – but only if they can find a matching donor. Thanks to the incredible legacy of a little boy called Anthony Nolan, there is hope. Anthony had a rare blood disorder and would only survive with a bone marrow donation from a stranger.
In the 1970s there was no system in place to find unrelated donors, but Anthony’s dedicated mum Shirley didn’t give up. Instead she did something amazing – she worked tirelessly to set up the world’s first bone marrow register, so that Anthony and others like him would have the best chance of beating their illness.
Sadly, Anthony died before a matching donor could be found. But forty years on, thanks to his legacy, blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan is still going strong – and saving more lives than ever, by matching selfless people willing to donate their bone marrow to blood cancer patients in need of a transplant.
Since Shirley established the world’s first bone marrow register, other countries have set up their own operations and there are now more than twenty-five million potential donors worldwide. Today, when someone needs a bone marrow or stem cell transplant, we search these combined registers to try to find a matching donor, breaking down international barriers in order to save lives.
We now help three people each day by finding that lifesaving match, curing thousands of people of blood cancers and other disorders.
To join the Anthony Nolan register, or support the charity’s lifesaving work, go to www.anthonynolan.org . For more information please call 0303 303 0303.
Statement From DKMS
Statement from DKMS, who will promote the book throughout the world along with Anthony Nolan:

Launched in February 2013, Delete Blood Cancer UK is part of the DKMS (The Foundation for Donating Life) international network of charities that has already recruited over five million potential blood stem cell donors in Germany, Poland, Great Britain and the United States. This results in an average of thirty-four people donating their blood stem cells to patients in need each day.
With less than half of blood cancer patients in the UK finding the lifesaving match they need, our key mission is to increase the pool of potential donors. The aim is to find a suitable donor for every person in need of a blood stem cell donation.
The donor could be for a blood cancer or blood disorder patient in the UK or in another country. There are no borders when it comes to saving lives, as Axel and Eric have shown.

To find out more about the incredible work carried out by Delete Blood Cancer UK, please visit
www.deletebloodcancer.org.uk
or call 020 8747 5620
My Mission
I traded bags of rice for diamonds. Little did the world’s poorest children know, in a country ravaged by civil war, that those diamonds were to save my life. All around me there were murders, rapes and mutilations. I lost everything in that chaotic country. But I retained my love for the children who, without realising, saved me from the worst fate imaginable.
I can shed light on the turmoil in Liberia during the late Eighties. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the wrong people, more than once during a savage conflict.
As if that wasn’t enough, I stood next to the terrorist who bombed Orly airport and killed eight people. How did I survive that carnage?
As I lie in a hospital bed, awaiting my second bone marrow transplant, I reflect on six extraordinary decades. I left college at seventeen, profited from the North Sea Oil industry and became a millionaire at the age of twenty-eight. I owned a mansion, a fleet of luxury cars, two aircraft and a top nightclub. I cash-funded a consortium of treasure hunters, diving for Stalin’s gold, lost on HMS Edinburgh after she was scuttled during World War Two.
I formed a unique friendship with the nephew of the James Bond author Ian Fleming, who has contributed to Diamonds for Rice. His rich family history is almost worth a book on its own.
There is a thirty per cent chance that I will die during the operation, but my story must be told and this book will be finished! I need to complete my work, which I started writing more than ten years ago at the time of my first transplant. I owe it all to my children, because I would like them to know everything about my life story. I could have died then, without them knowing anything about my life. The same applies now. My other reason for writing this book is to encourage potential donors to register with Anthony Nolan and Delete Blood Cancer.
The chemotherapy and first transplant took a lot out of me and now I must face it all again. Those millions I made in Liberia are a distant, but powerful memory; my logging company reaped huge rewards and collapsed like a pack of cards as Liberia erupted into civil war.
That spectacular country, riddled with corruption and soaked in blood, paved my life with gold – until I lost everything. Diamonds are certainly forever, and I keep thinking about those children who helped me to take the last flight out of the war-torn country. Scarlett’s unique diamond, worth a small fortune and paid for with a bag of rice, eventually rescued me from that hell on earth. I survived brutal interrogations, but only just…
My outlook on life, and my values, changed completely when Scarlett and the other bush children gave me those diamonds. Ironically, the gems ensured my survival and the children may well have died in a bloodbath. They knew nothing about me or what I would do with the diamonds. They just wanted something to eat.
More traumas followed. I was diagnosed with Myelofibrosis, and that meant a long search for a bone marrow donor through the Anthony Nolan Register. I had that first successful transplant from a donor in Germany. I felt reborn. I became a founding member of the Full Circle Fund – a charity that supports patients with life-limiting illnesses at St George’s Hospital in London.
Finally life was on the ‘up’ again – until the world economy imploded in 2008, my bone marrow disease returned shortly afterwards, and in January 2013 I declared myself bankrupt.
Since then my life has shrunk to enduring, happy fundamentals: my family, health and an appreciation of nature.
I read recently that life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away.
My mind is still packed with the seeds of new adventures. I have to accept that any new escapades could never match the high drama contained in the following pages.
Prologue
Who Wants To Be a Millionnaire?
‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ my father asked at the tea table one night.
Gary, my brother who was eight at the time, replied: ‘I want to be a doctor.’
‘I want £1million, a gold Rolls Royce and my own number plate to match my initials – ESE 1,’ I chipped in.
My father burst out laughing and switched the TV on. It was time for Emergency Ward 10, the nation’s favourite programme in the late 1950s. Dad loved the show.
No other words were spoken that evening. My mum said nothing, and Dad kept chuckling.
I felt mortified, humiliated, and devastated. What was wrong with what I had said? I felt alone, as if on an island. I was saddened, at such a young age, that he saw my ambition as a joke. As he laughed, I became more determined to make my dream come true.
That day my father instilled in me the concrete desire to achieve my goals. At that time I did not know how or when. I was passionate and became even more driven.
That evening was