Empathy Awry

Photo: The case became a flashpoint for debates on the role of the state and the rights of children. (GoFundMe: Charlies Fight)

"Charlie did have a real chance of getting better. ... Now we will never know what would have happened if he got treatment."
"Mummy and Daddy love you so much Charlie, we always have and we always will and we are so sorry that we couldn't save you."
"We had the chance but we weren't allowed to give you that chance."
"Sweet dreams baby. Sleep tight, our beautiful little boy."
"Our beautiful little boy has gone, we are so proud of you Charlie."
Connie Yates, Chris Gard 

Chris Gard and Connie Yates, the parents of critically ill infant Charlie Gard, arrive at a court session in London. Jonathan Brady/AP 
 

A first child, a lovely little boy, discovered at two months of age to be afflicted with a serious illness. His parents, British citizens, had been referred with him to the Great Ormond Street Hospital. This is no ordinary hospital, it is an institution known globally for its advanced paediatric care and always has been, for the two centuries of its existence. The tiny boy was instantly admitted, where paediatric specialists hastened to apply the most proven of modern paediatric practices to save his life.

No single doctor, but a medical team of experts assigned themselves to do what they could for this infant. He was placed on a ventilator to breathe for him and unlike most situations of this type tiny Charlie demonstrated "no spontaneous respiratory efforts"; in other words where the respirator breathing on his behalf would influence other babies in similar distress to respond by making an autonomic effort to help themselves breathe, he could not.

The baby was submitted to a round of tests to determine the full depth and extent of his malady. That included advanced genetic testing, the result of which was a diagnosis of a very rare mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome which meant that Charlie would die of a certainty in the near future, and his deteriorating condition lent credence to that expectation based on test results. Soon not only could he not breathe on his own he was unable to open his eyelids as well, due to muscular weakness.

He experienced hearing loss and became unresponsive to any type of stimuli that would normally elicit a response. Charlie's parents were continually apprised of his situation, the results of the tests and his deteriorating condition. He began to experience intractable seizures so that ventilation long-term presented as inhumane for the pain he would be suffering. He could be kept alive through ventilation-enabled breathing, but his pain would only intensify.

The hospital's ethics committee was in agreement that Charlie be given palliative care.

His parents, for reasons best known to themselves spurned all the readings of test results heralding his imminent death. The advice given them with their baby's best interests topmost in mind was rejected by them. They believed, they stated emphatically, that their infant son would rally, he would somehow manage to overcome his body breakdown and become healthy and they would take him home and raise him as they planned to. Because he was a 'fighter'.

This pathological transfixion in the faith of their own reasoning in polarized contrast to all the test results, the diagnoses, their child's steady decline, and the professional advice of the entire hospital staff led Chris Gard and Connie Yates to publicize their conflict with the hospital, charging them with defying the baby's best interests and denying their request that he be treated elsewhere. Their constant public appearances and their pleas succeeded in extracting wide news coverage and compassion at home and abroad.

Their coercive manipulation of peoples' sympathies with their heartfelt pleas to save their son, and appeals through a GoFundMe online campaign to raise funds to enable the parents to pay for their then-11-month-old infant to be flown to the United States to undergo treatment there, succeeded in raising over 1.3 million pounds ($2.14 million). The medical staff looking after the child objected, reasoning there was no treatment that could help save his life; rather it would increase his suffering.

The parents' intransigent objections that they knew their baby could recover with expert care given him elsewhere than at Great Ormond Street Hospital, but that the hospital and the doctors there were foiling the parents' efforts to save their child, exposed both the hospital and the medical team to hostile abuse by a public indignant over the purported treatment of the parents by the hospital they accused, in essence, of doing nothing to prevent Charlie's death.

By appealing to peoples' raw emotions through the spectacle of a grieving, outraged father and mother of a helpless and desperately ill child, this couple portrayed themselves as courageous fighters for justice to be enabled to save their baby. They were prepared to take on medical science and defeat reality through the force of their faith in what they believed. In the process they became celebrity figures, respected and supported in their battle with reality by a pope and an American president.

No one but they, and perhaps not even they, will ever know the agenda that drove them to unreasoning blame and vituperation; of, in the final analysis, causing their baby to suffer beyond endurance because they insisted on proving they were right and were prepared to fight a battle that could never be won. They attained a supportive audience, and they played for it.

Head stuff to people who became addicted to fame born out of human compassion, where they gained recognition for their suffering and their baby continued to suffer because of their addiction.

Bad Luck, Too Sad: No Comment

"While we understand that a criminal charge involving someone at our hospital is a highly distressing occurrence and will create a good deal of anxiety for our community, the charges result from a police investigation to which the hospital is not a party."
"This matter is in the hands of the justice system and as advised by our legal counsel the hospital will not be making any further statements about this matter."
Karen McGrath, president, chief executive, Georgian Bay General Hospital, Midland, Ontario

"I didn't really understand what could have happened. I was just going by what I was told. You take them at their word, they're the professionals."
"She was begging me for relief. She said she was dying; that's what it felt like, that she couldn't breathe."
"And I guess they had her on life support. I'd like it to get resolved and find out exactly what happened and why. I'll go to court next month and see what happens."
"She was a great mother and a great wife and everybody loved her."

"Deanna and I were so in love and now she’s gone and I have to live with the what if’s every day for the rest of my life."

"My boys and I deserve answers. I am hoping someone will help us find those answers and prevent such horrible mistakes from happening in the future."
"Obviously something went wrong. A healthy 39-year-old woman doesn’t go in for a half-hour knee scope and die thirty-six hours later."

"Somebody obviously made a mistake, as far as I’m concerned."

Mike Leblanc, Midland, Ontario

"This is a complex investigation. To preserve the integrity of this investigation and the pending case before the court, no further information will be released."
"There is no threat to public safety."
Inspector Ron Wheeldon, Midland Police Service

"This is the first time in Canada or the United States that criminal charges have been laid -- that I know of -- against a health-care provider for withdrawing life support from a patient."
"It is pretty clear the law in Canada requires consent to withdraw life support."
"It must seem to the investigating officers, and I assume a Crown attorney, that there is no ethical grey area in this one."
"Why did she do it? That's the $64,000 question."
Mark Handelman, health law lawyer, Toronto

handout photo   Deanna Leblanc, 39, died in Georgian Bay General Hospital on March 2, 2014. On Thursday, in what one legal expert called an "unprecedented" move, Midland police charged nurse Joanna Flynn, 50, with manslaughter for terminating Leblanc's life support without authorization. Here, Leblanc is seen with her husband Michael and her sons Mathew, 18 (right) and Daniel, 15.

Deanna Leblanc had undergone a simple surgery to repair her knee in late April of 2014. She had undergone arthroscopic surgery on her knee cartilage. During surgery tiny instruments are inserted through small cuts to examine and make corrections to a joint. The procedure was conducted at Newmarket General Hospital. It was a half-hour operation, and she returned home the same day. That was a Friday.

The following day she seemed just fine. She was in recovery and everything appeared normal. Then she awoke about 3:00 a.m. after Saturday night slipped into Sunday morning, and she was in agony. her husband recounted. He called 911 and an ambulance took his wife to the Midland hospital, 160 kilometres north of Toronto. When he arrived at the hospital she was undergoing cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

He waited in the emergency room for results. And hours later he was informed that his wife was dead. She had been placed on life support, with a breathing apparatus. And his wife was now dead. Admitted to one hospital for a simple operation on an out-patient basis, admitted to another hospital when she was suddenly overcome with excruciating pain that heralded a massive decline in her health, and nothing could be done to save her.

But she was on life support, so decisions would have to be made on the basis of professional medical advice about expectations of possible recovery -- or not. And then, suddenly again, there were no consultations to take place, no decisions to be made, because his wife had been taken off life support. A situation had occurred that had been unauthorized. He had no knowledge of it at first, in fact. The hospital undertook to review the circumstances of the death.

What they discovered prompted them to call police. And as police took charge of the further investigation, 50-year-old nurse Joanna Flynn of nearby Wyevale, Ontario, suddenly fired from the hospital staff came under suspicion. She was, in fact, charged with manslaughter and criminal negligence causing death. Although police began working on the case within days of the death, it took 13 months to lay charges. 

There is the mystery why a dedicated, well-respected nurse would have taken the initiative to remove a patient from a respirator that was keeping her alive. Only the family could make that decision, and only after consultation with the health professionals looking after the patient, when it would have been made clear that the patient was well beyond hope of resuscitation. But here, mysteriously, a nurse that had just gone on duty at the ICU made that fateful decision.

And then there is the matter of the original surgery, a simple surgery, professional performed in a half-hour at a reputable hospital and the patient later in the day discharged to recover at home. A young, physically active woman with two young boys, a busy schedule, a love of sports and dancing, living a normal life in a happy family, suddenly dead. 

Results of the autopsy released to Mike Leblanc several months earlier informed him that it was revealed his wife had acute pneumonia, blood clots in her lungs and a condition named as disseminated intravascular coagulation where blood clots are created throughout a person's small blood vessels, and another question arose. How this morbid internal collapse could take place as a result of a simple knee surgery.

Mr. Leblanc is now preparing to launch a law suit against the hospital that performed that simple knee surgery that led to his wife's collapse and death two days post-surgery. For their part, Newmarket-based Southlake Regional Health Centre issued a statement through their spokesperson: "We have just become aware of the events related to this case as reported in the media. We recognize that this is a tragic and difficult situation for all involved. It is not appropriate for Southlake to comment at this time."

Art and Artlessness

"Words of bile and hatred bullied [him into declining a longed-for engagement with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra]. The media frenzy [over Valentina Lisitsa's cancelled performance sucked him too into its vortex of hatred]."
"What started out as one of the happiest moments of my life turned into a shattering display of mob hysteria. Her words offended many people who perceived her as pro-violence and anti-love."
"Free speech has consequences, and one must own one's position ... Her attitude, and the mob-like behaviour of her devotees, censures Rachmaninoff's 2nd concerto."
Stewart Goodyear, pianist, Toronto

RANDY RISLING / Toronto STAR Order this photo

Stewart Goodyear, seen here in 2012, says he has pulled out of filling in for Valentina Lisitsa after facing a furore for doing so after the controversy surrounding her views on Ukraine.

"It's hard to see the connection between what she said and what the duties of her job are and how it would affect it. I think there is a problem with the message that this sends to artists that they may have trouble getting jobs or keeping jobs if they express views that are unpopular or controversial."
Cara Zwibel, Canadian Civil Liberties Association

"This is not about free speech, this is not about a political perspective or persuasion, this is about very offensive, intolerant comments about people."
"As one of Canada's most important cultural institutions, our priority must remain on being a stage for the world's great works of music, and not for opinions that some believe to be deeply offensive."
Jeff Melanson, president, chief executive, TSO

Vince Talotta / Toronto Star   Ukraine-born pianist Valentina Lisitsa says she has no intention to stop criticizing her native country.

Unfortunately, it seems that Mr. Melanson dropped the ball on the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's primary function of presenting as a stage for the world's great works of music. Presumably, the obnoxious but hugely talented classical pianist Valentina Lisitsa whose popularity has soared for the precision and beauty of her rendering of great musical compositions is acclaimed by music lovers for her talented expression on the piano, and not for her tasteless and odious opinions.

Richard Wagner, hugely admired as a favourite of the Third Reich for his presentation of the ubermensch, the Aryan ideal, remains a controversial figure, but even his music with its sturm und drang that so inspired Adolf Hitler, remains popular as the quintessential dramatic musical storytelling panorama of legendary superhuman figures. The man and his philosophy were wretched, but his music extraordinarily listenable, though many consider it tainted irremediably.

Ukraine-born, ethnic Russian classical pianist Valentine Lisitsa has gained a huge following for whom her controversial statements remain irrelevant; her musical ability speaks for itself as far as they're concerned. She had been scheduled to play as a guest star with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Protests lodged with the orchestra administration, however, resulting from her strongly-held views on world affairs, convinced the TSO board that her presence on stage with the orchestra would burden their reputation.

Her popularity with classical music aficionados is one that transcends her politics, however. And the orchestra has been both congratulated and damned by its decision to honour their retaining fee for her performance, while absenting her from the stage. As a replacement for Ms. Lisitsa, a Toronto pianist, Stewart Goodyear, was invited to take her place, and he was pleased to accept what to him represented a mouth-watering opportunity to advance his career.

Unfortunately, Mr. Goodyear too will not be appearing with the TSO. In a Facebook entry, he complained bitterly that the controversy had dragged him into its vortex "before I could blink." Since the cancellation of Ms. Lisitsa's appearance, critics of the decision have protested the aura of censorship, and have accused the orchestral management of surrendering to Ukrainian demands.

Without a doubt Ms. Lisitsa has offended with her opinionated and canted view of politics and human relations. Her sharp-tongued cuts have lunged at a wide range of subjects, from accusations of "atrocities" committed on the part of the Ukrainian regime against ethnic Russian Ukrainians, to the skepticism she expresses about the Holocaust, to mockery of Down syndrome individuals, even expressing a threat against NATO troops.

Open-minded and pleasant she obviously is not. But she is 41 years of age, an adult whose experiences have formed her perspective on many matters relating to the human condition. She has been endowed with an especial musical talent to offset her repugnant willingness to offend. And while it might be satisfying to some to just tell her to shut up and play the keyboard, she does have a right to express her ignorant opinion in a society that values free speech.

Ukraine-born classical pianist Valentina Lisitsa is shown performing live on stage at the Royal Albert Hall in London on June 19, 2012. (Andrew Cowie/AFP/Getty Images)

Dislike her, like her music. Or, as the TSO has it, if the talented Ms. Lisitsis feels entitled to air her random and insulting thoughts revealing her personality as a rather nasty person, she does so at the expense of her professional reputation of a pianist of great original ability, and she has made her choice, just as the Toronto Symphony made theirs.

Post-Professionalism

"The staff that manage the premises are making attempts to contact the owners, who are currently abroad."
Scotland Yard police spokesman

"The raid was well-planned and well executed. They must have had inside information to be able to get into premises like that, to know the routes, the vulnerabilities, the lift shaft, and to defeat a state-of-the-art security system."
Barry Phillips, (former) operational head, Flying Squad detectives

Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty    Detective Chief Inspector Paul Johnson of the London Metropolitan Police Service's Flying Squad  

Where do people deposit their savings to ensure they are well protected? Why banks, of course. And if those people have a cache of really valuable objects or documents that they want to ensure will never fall into the wrong hands, they use the banks' safety deposit systems. What could go wrong? It isn't considered intelligent to stuff mattresses or secrete valuables at home, though doubtless many people still belong to that school of thought, and sometimes with disastrous consequences.

In London, the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd. represents the safekeeping venue for independent gem dealers located in the city's gem district. Many of these dealers don't have safes in their establishments, and many of them also don't have insurance on their valuable gems. So, obviously, the safe bet is to ensure that no unauthorized entities could possibly advantage themselves by theft of these precious commodities. Where else but in an establishment that specializes in protection of these assets?

So, surprise, surprise, an obviously thoroughly professional group of thieves with insider information thought up an audaciously ambitious blueprint for accessing these well-protected assets to avail themselves of the contents of up to 70 safety deposit boxes. Assets, said to be valued at up to $370 million, a considerable sum to represent a week-end's hard work. The gang, whoever they may be, planned well and employed considerable technical skill to win their reward.

Scotland Yard detectives appear convinced that the building had been under close surveillance days before the raid that took place on Easter weekend. It appears that the gang broke into offices above Hatton Garden and then cut through the roof, rappelled down an elevator shaft and used heavy equipment to break their way through 18-inch-thick metal doors to gain access to the establishment's vaults -- impermeable to unauthorized entry.

Until they disarmed the sophisticated alarm, took away with them the television security system's hard drive, and settled down to spend the long weekend shattering the safeguarded haven of up to 70 security boxes, and lovingly removing their contents. They might have been foiled when an alarm went off on the Friday afternoon when they were just in the initial stages of their operation. A security guard checked the main doors, however, and left the premises.

Police may never quite know the full value of the stolen objects given the sensitive nature of the safety deposit box industry. The victims, according to information from local jewellers, would be small, independent business and workshop owners, without safes of their own, and trustingly without insurance since why bother when they take steps such as those taken to ensure their goods would never fall into the wrong hands?

According to Detective Chief Inspector Paul Johnson of the London Metropolitan Police Service's Flying Squad:

• The very industrious thieves were somehow able to enter the building without leaving any sign of forced entry;
• Whereupon they "disabled the communal lift on the second floor" and used the elevator shaft to climb down to the level of the company's vault;
• They then "forced open heavy shutter doors to the basement"'
• And finally they "used a heavy duty Hilti DD350 drill to bore holes in the two-metre thick re-enforced concrete wall of the vault."

Sadly, people like Michael Miller, a jeweller from Knightsbridge have more than a pecuniary loss involved here. He explained that: "I have a collection of watches I was going to give my son and that is irreplaceable." Too bad, really, that Hatton Garden Safe Deposit was so satisfied with the mechanical safety measures they had installed that they felt they had little need to have an alert and dedicated professional staff of security guards on duty.

 

Another deposit box holder, 68-year-old Norman Bean, recounted a conversation he had with the guard who had heard the alarm: "He went downstairs, looked through the door, through the windows and couldn't see anything and came out again, that was it. I said, 'Well, why didn't you open up and have a look in?' He told me he doesn't get paid enough."

 Flying With Confidence

"These people are extremely lucky that the airplane structurally remained, from a cabin point of view, intact, and there was no fire."
"Normally when an airplane hits the ground, there's considerably more damage than is indicated here."
"The question here is why did he [the pilot] land short. Regardless, it's pretty obvious that they weren't on the glide slope [trajectory leading to runway]."
"They're probably lucky there was snow [so sparks wouldn't start a fire]."
Ron Coleman, aviation safety consultant, Canadian Aviation Safety Consultants

The damage on Air Canada Airbus A320 is seen after the plane skidded off the runway while attempting to land at Halifax International Airport on Sunday, March 29, 2015. (Transportation Safety Board of Canada/Supplied)

"It was safe to fly in this weather. The aircraft did circle for a period of time but when the approach was initiated, the weather was at the approach limits."
"We at Air Canada are greatly relieved that no one was critically injured. Yet we fully appreciate this has been a very unsettling experience for our customers and their families, as well as our employees, and we are focused on caring for all those affected. We will also fully co-operate with the Transportation Safety Board as it begins an investigation to determine the cause."
Klaus Goersch, executive vice-president, COO, Air Canada

"It was just completely surreal. I was running down the landing tarmac, and there was the smell of kerosene. I tripped over a big metal object, which must have been one of the components. It was just completely surreal. I just thought about my boys and my family."
"That was the reason we ran from the plane. I was talking to another woman who's got kids, and we both said we kind of felt like cowards because we just ran and didn't stop to help people. But we were just driven to get away from the plane for the sake of our families."
Dominic Stettler, passenger, Airbus A320, Halifax International Airport

This March 29, 2015 handout photo provided by the Canada Transportation Safety Board shows a side view of a Air Canada Airbus A-320 after skidding off the runway at Halifax International Airport in Halifax, Nova Scotia. An Air Canada jet came off the runway after landing at the Halifax airport in Nova Scotia on March 29, sending at least 23 people to hospital, officials said.  (AFP PHOTO / HANDOUT / CANADA TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD)

A snowstorm over Halifax on Saturday night caused Air Canada flight 624 from Toronto to circle the airport, awaiting improved landing conditions. Passengers were informed that if ground visibility didn't improve since the plane might run out of fuel, it would have to be redirected to Moncton, New Brunswick. Then clearance to land was received shortly afterward.

In minutes' time, the passengers did not disembark casually as their plane landed on the airstrip assigned to it. Instead, they scrambled in panic to exit a ruined shell of a plane lying crumpled on the snowy ground, nose cone and landing gear sheared off. They hadn't landed on the runway, and in the process of attempting to land crash-skidded instead, losing an engine on impact.

Some passengers were aware that it seemed the pilot tried to abort his descent, but it was too late. The 25-year-old Airbus severed power lines, temporarily closing off electricity to the airport. In its descent a scaffold that held the airport's localizer system used to help guide landings, was destroyed. As the plane came to a skidding stop a stewardess opened the emergency hatch deploying the slide, and a passenger opened another emergency door.

Some passengers, returning from holidays on sun-filled beaches were clad in shorts and sandals. They, like the rest of the 133 passengers waited, huddled in the cold winter air for buses to arrive to deliver them to the airport. Some 25 of those passengers were briefly admitted to hospital with minor injuries. All but one of the passengers not yet released from hospital spent an uneasy night in an airport hotel.

It isn't too difficult to imagine the nightmares that visited those passengers in their sleep that night. Perhaps to return occasionally. None of them would have been unaware of the horrendous crash into a mountain top in the French Alps, of Germanwings Airbus 320 a few days earlier, killing all 150 people on board, including the pilot, crew, and co-pilot who had engineered the disaster.

"When I look[ed] at pictures this morning, I really did not realize how damaged that plane is", said Mike Magnus, a passenger on the Airbus A320 that missed the landing strip in Halifax. In his mind he plays over what might have been the result in summer when a dry runway would have created more friction and sparks with no moisture to depress a fire. The snow, he observed, "caused the accident but I think it also saved us."

Retirement? Why?!!

"I have no hobbies. I tried golf; I hated it. I tried curling; I hated it."
"I don't call them clients. I call them my girlfriends."
"I affect how you're going to look for the next week or the next month. So we have to have a bond, a trust."
"I had a lady, her hair went green. She wasn't happy. But that was thirty years ago."
"If you have beautiful grey hair and want to colour it, I will talk you out of it."
"This is heaven. Owning this place [his own beauty parlour] is like I won the lottery."
Murray Shaikin, 70, Ottawa, Murray's Hair

Murray Shaikin, 70, has been styling hair for over 50 years and he’s had some of his clients for over 40 years. He’s so dedicated to his customers that for some he’ll drive to their retirement home every week to bring them to his salon. Client Peggy McDonald has her husband, Robert, left, drive her to the Richmond Road salon. Wayne Cuddington/Ottawa Citizen

This man of gracious temperament and skilled hands has been doting on women for longer than he has been married to one. A not unusual situation, since many men do enjoy the company of women and eventually marry one of those he most admires. Murray Shaikin, originally from Montreal, which is where he received his academic hairdressing credentials as a very, very young man, has been primping and colouring, curling and styling women's hair for 53 years.

Some of his clients, he says, have been as faithful to him as he has been to them, and he throws around figures of 30 and 40 years, and one woman in particular who has been having her hair done by him for 51 years. Now that's loyalty. But little wonder, since this man reciprocates in a way that none others do. Take, for example, some of his clients aged 91, 93, 90 and 88. What other hairdresser in town will do house visits?

Murray Shaikin, 70, has had some of his clients for over 40 years. For some, like Audrey Henry, 88, he’ll drive to her retirement home every week to bring her to his salon. Wayne Cuddington/Ottawa Citizen

Better yet what other hairdresser will run a special valet service, picking up these very particular and special long-time clients, delivering them to the salon, and returning them home when their hair has been done? In fact, that valet is Mr. Shaikin himself, taking special pains to provide his services to special women. His wife presumably doesn't mind, nor do their two grown children. She might shrug her metaphorical shoulders, sighing 'it's a living'.

A living her husband pursued for what most people might consider a lifetime. And in an age when doctors no longer make house calls, he still does. And for his efforts his loyal clients represent generations; grandmother, mother, daughter for example. There is one family for whom he has styled five generations of haircuts. Weddings, family celebrations, even wakes.

Over that half-century and more of personal hair care, Mr. Shaikin plied his beloved trade out of nine different salons. One at which he worked for 27 years. Until he was able to open his own salon, finally. Murray's Hair. Some of his long-time clients feel sufficiently at home in his establishment to take up a broom and tidy up the floor on occasion, while awaiting their turn for his familiar ministrations transforming their hair from !eh! to !wow!

He is Jewish, many of his clients are not, but they invite him to share Christmas celebrations; his family and theirs. After all, they've been together for so long as hairdresser extraordinaire and appreciative clients that they've been witness to one another's life unfolding, feeling comfortable in one another's presence, and trusting and appreciating each other.

Elixir of Life

"The aging process is a biologically complex thing."
"What we were trying to do is look into the biology of aging and see what does really work. We found that having a long and healthy life is largely related to lifestyle and diet."
Dame Karen Dunnell, chairman, Longevity-Science Panel, Great Britain

"Aging occurs because the mechanisms which keep us in good health fail over time. After a variable number of divisions, cells will stop dividing and start to do bad stuff."
"So, in effect, all age-related diseases are being driven by a few mechanisms, which if you could control them, could be the difference between somebody hobbling down the street, or jogging past you."
Richard Faragher, professor of Biogerontology, University of Brighton

The frantic search for the Fountain of Youth that absorbed adventure-explorers of days long gone by doesn't present the formula for extending human longevity, as much as we might wish that miraculous discovery of some magic, natural potion might do. As ye reap so shall ye sow. It is within us to make the most of our sole opportunity on Earth during our apportioned lifespan to live healthily and as a bonus, a prolonged life.

In a perhaps more familiar parlance of the day the phrase associated with computer inputting 'garbage in, garbage out', might give a clue to what we're doing wrong, if we're doing it all wrong. And there's a growing body of consensus on that, that in becoming sedentary and eating far more than we should we're voluntarily, if not deliberately, shortening our lives and in the process making even that shortened lifespan devoid of quality.

If we enjoy exercising our bodies in the pursuit of recreational opportunities and in the process get ourselves out into our natural surroundings we're well on our way to living an enhanced lifestyle. If we're cognizant of what constitutes good nutrition and do out utmost to eat as healthily as possible, even backsliding to eat empty-nutrition, high-caloried junk on occasion we're doing what we should: avoiding obscene weight gain leading to diabetes, heart and stroke problems.

All cells contain a DNA blueprint and in theory could maintain correct bodily function forever. Unlike humankind and other animals, some marine creatures do not age at all. Cell division is the cause of aging. While when we are young, cell division is an integral function of growth, organ development and replacement of damaged cells, as we age errors in cell division occur. Less mechanistic issues such as lifestyle factors in smoking and drinking increase the rate of mutations.

Over-eating is thought to be the cause of increased mutations, since it speeds up cell division. Whenever a cell divides it also shortens the protective caps on DNA, called telomeres. The hypothesis is that once the telomeres reach maximum size they cause a halt to cell division, a process known as senescence. Senescent cell buildup in an organ prevents the body's capacity to repair damage.

That process can be slowed, however, by eating well, by exercising and by taking prescribed drugs having the capability of switching off damaging biological pathways in the body, the panel concluded. A calorie-restricted diet, such as fasting on alternative days can increase the lifespan of animals by up to 65 percent, according to the findings of some experiments. Likewise, observing a Mediterranean diet the incidence of age-related disease is diminished.

Recent research points to burning an extra thousand to two-thousand calories a week through exercise may be useful in reducing mortality by up to 30 percent. Statins are known to reduce cholesterol and thus help to prevent heart disease. They additionally have anti-inflammatory powers, lowering mortality risk. Other drugs regulate cell division, shown to increase mice lifespan by up to 26 percent. And red wine has been shown to extend lifespan in simple animal models.

In a long-term experiment begun in 1979, 2,500 men were asked to follow five simple rules; to eat well, work out, drink less, keep their weight down and never smoke. Checking back four decades later, 25 pensioners of that total number had managed to respect that protocol in their lifestyles. They present now as fitter and healthier than those who decided to skip the five rules of living healthy lifestyles.

A figure from the study which shows the percentage reduction in average mortality rate attributable to dietary restriction in laboratory animals and a projection of how this may translate for humans (Nakagawa et al 2012)

The result of the British study is the understanding that some people could live to age 120 if they exercised more, ate well, and used beneficial drugs like statins. Walking regularly, cutting down on sugar, salt and fat, taking advantage of already existing drugs could extend life. Aging is the understanding that elderly people are likelier to become ill and die than younger people. It is not, however, inevitable.



And each individual is capable of managing their lives and reaping the benefits, in the short-term and into the future. If one is healthier when young and the practical steps taken to preserve that good health continues on throughout the journey of life, it has its reward in being healthier while aging, and the extra bonus is a longer life, while remaining healthy achieving it.

Beware Slanderous Accusations

"Our intention is that we would like to show her the video and after that we would expect an apology. We had to question all of our co-workers over this and that doesn't feel good for anyone. What's important is that we want to put this whole incident behind us. The public is well aware of our open policy to breastfeeding." 
Madeleine Lowenborg-Frick, Ikea spokeswoman

 Brea Rehder says an Ikea employee called her act of breastfeeding her infant daughter in a checkout line on Monday ‘disgusting’. Ikea says it has been unable to find any security video of the incident.  Photograph by: handout photo

A young mother, shopping at Ottawa's Ikea emporium with a friend and the mother's nine-month-old daughter, and purportedly the mother's two-year-old son, accused the store of having insulted her intolerably through the medium of one of their managers' attitude seeing her breastfeeding her little girl while standing in a cash check-out. The manager, whom the young mother summoned to discuss a price she wanted clarified, ostensibly stated: "When you're done being disgusting, we can resume our discussion. In the meantime, take it to the bathroom because you're holding up the line."

There are some people, even shoppers at Ikea, and likely those of a more elderly, less self-absorbed persuasion who might have applauded the reaction of the manager. But a legion of offended nursing mothers, social workers and mothers' 'rights' supporters would most certainly, and in fact, did respond with outrage. And it was up to Ikea to somehow soothe the feelings of those who felt anger over the purported incident. Purported due to the fact that it appears never actually to have taken place, other than in the feverishly offended imagination of the complainant.

Who also insisted that the nasty incident had sparked a reaction in her two-year-old son who witnessed what had never occurred, and who refused that very evening to take part in the customary pre-bedtime nursing at his mother's breast, because, he is said to have cried heartbroken: "the woman said it's icky". What a perspicacious child. Or not. The mother, whose name is Brea Rehder, felt she was due an apology, and what's more her son required an apology to soothe his injured perceptions.

Ms. Rehder had sought publicity over the issue. She contacted a local newspaper to ensure that they would follow up on her story. And she had sent a complaint to the store's Facebook presence. Whereupon the manager of Ikea's store called to apologize, asking for complete details to enable the store management to follow up on the incident. The store did follow up, questioning every member of the sales staff, reviewing closed-circuit videos, and nothing whatever came up.

No staff member had any knowledge of what Ms. Rehder complained of, and nor was there any evidence on video.

And then they discovered that Ms. Rehder was indeed in the cash lineup, but at 6:45 p.m. on March 10, not when she had stated, hours ealier. And nor was she with her child, but rather alone, "with a smile on her face". The video did not show Ms. Rehder breastfeeding. The incident hadn't occurred. Two B.C. academics who are also psychologists involved in training judges, police, lawyers, psychologists and others in the art of spotting lies were recently interviewed for a news column.

Among other things they said was that "We generally assume others are telling the truth -- unless given reason to think otherwise" -- even though most people themselves lie, often, in little ways, usually harmless. Lying, the pointed out, appears on the rise. And narcissism happens to be a personality trait associated with lying. "They often show something called duping delight. They enjoy pulling the wool over people's eyes and a trained observer can detect a little smirk."

Be that as it may, it would certainly appear that Ms. Rehder indulged herself in quite the fantasy of resentment, to garner for herself public attention, photographs of herself as a young, beautiful adoring mother of her infant child decorating the news coverage of the dreadful event that had occurred to her at the Pinecrest Mall Ikea store. Except that it didn't happen other than in her feverish imagination. And perhaps it had occurred to her that she would like a little admiring attention due her status as a loving, nurturing mother.

There are two involving elements in this sad tale. One, the need of someone to attract attention to themselves, as a sacrificing, dutiful, loving mother to two very young children. There was also malice aforethought, for her accusations and the hysteria of condemnation that rained down on the reputation of a store that has indeed made accommodation for nursing mothers a customer priority, as have many other retailers done in this current climate of public-nursing-entitlement-and-get-used-to-it. The bad publicity foisted upon the store resulting from this woman's fantasy could have been ruinous.

The Ikea spokeswoman commented for a business news story that her company has not been able to contact Ms. Rehder since it completed its investigation. The store spokespeople did divulge to the media their findings, which were devoid of the evidence that would affirm the claims made by Ms. Rehder, but they refrained from casting fault or blame anywhere, though Ms. Lowenborg-Frick did mention the store would appreciate an apology due them from the mother of two nursing infants who claimed she had been insulted and shamed by a store employee.

The incident is now being used as a case study by those invested in public relations, and by academics for whom such events can be used as a teaching opportunity. Josh Greenberg, for example, associate director of Carleton University's School of Journalism commended Ikea's handling of the allegations: "It's a challenge. The issue they were dealing with was highly charged, emotionally and politically. Corporations always face the risk when they respond to the activist community that they're going to be seen as the proverbial Goliath taking on David."

"There are two errors you can make: Under-respond or over-respond. They didn't over-respond by hanging their employee out to dry and say, 'We'll automatically believe the customer.' But within the culture of the company, getting to the facts should be an important part of any company's corporate culture". explained Barry McLoughlin, president of the PR firm McLaughlin Media. "Ikea could have been on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars (in lost business) if they had mishandled this story.

"I thought they were quite tactful in the way they dealt with it. They allowed the consumer of the information to conclude for themselves as to the veracity of her story. They didn't directly call her a liar, but a reasonable person reading the subsequent stories would draw the conclusion: this appears to be a made-up story. They were very smart in not over-reaching on that. They were measured in what they said."

"You have to tell the truth. You have to be authentic in the circumstances of what happened. That has to be the golden rule", added Laura Peck, McLoughlin Media's vice-president.

And perhaps Ms. Rehder, still very young, has learned a lesson, to think ahead to consequences of issues relating to poor judgement, and to make an effort in future to stifle her appreciation for thespian drama in the bid to draw positive attention to herself. Instead of the glowing attention she craved, those involved ended up glowering, sending her into seclusion with shame for company.

A Tragedy

"It's a tragedy. We have a young fellow who was trying to help out another person ... and we've lost a life needlessly on the highway."
Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Brian Humber

"We're proud of what he did, trying to help someone else when most people wouldn't have stopped. It didn't surprise us he stopped. That was Jonathan, he was very selfless." 
"He saw the man in distress and Jonathan, being the gentleman that he is, he pulled over to help."
Christine Turmaine, step-mother

"It didn't matter it was 3:30 in the morning. He wouldn't leave someone stranded. He was always willing to help people."
"He liked working with his hands and working outside. He's a big, strong kid and that's what he liked to do. He always made sure he was never late for work."
Pierre Paquette

Jonathan's parents speak in the present. It is Jonathan 'is', not Jonathan 'was'. It will take them quite a while to wrench their minds toward the horrendously painful reality that Jonathan no longer is there, in the flesh. He is there certainly, but in their memories. And they will evoke the memories of the young man forever in their minds, recalling his spirit and his character. It is, after all, what they have left of him.

It was far earlier in the morning than most people would find themselves out, driving on a snow-slick highway Monday morning, February 24, on Highway 400, at half-past three, well before daylight, between Barrie, Ontario and Victoria Harbour. A van plowed off the highway, flipped and landed on its roof. Inside, the driver was trapped, aware that a handful of other vehicles were passing by.

Unable to help himself, awaiting help, but no help arrived. At least for the first half-hour.
 

Jonathan Antler-Paquette, right, is pictured with his father Pierre Paquette. Jonathan was killed early in the morning on Feb. 24 when he was struck while stopping to help a driver who’d slid off the road on Highway 400 near Barrie. (Photo supplied by Pierre Paquette)

 

What might have been the sixth vehicle to come across the accident scene did stop. And out of the vehicle stepped a 21-year-old man. He would help. His name was Jonathan Antler-Paquette. The past tense is used here because Jonathan, though he didn't know it, when he exited his own vehicle which he had carefully parked at the side of the highway, hadn't much longer to live.

On seeing the overturned van, Jonathan pulled his car to the shoulder, and approached the van. The man inside explained to Jonathan's parents later that he "was surprised to see a young man" approaching but overwhelmed with relief. Neither Jonathan's expectations of acting the Good Samaritan or the trapped man's relief at immediate rescue, as it happened, came to fruition.



Jonathan had studied computer technology and Internet security at Algonquin College. He lived with his mother, Kimberley Ada Antler at Victoria Harbour, commuting to his Toronto job with Harris Rebar as a rodbuster, laying, tying reinforcing rebar steel at construction sites. He was, in fact, on his way to pick up someone he worked with, when he deviated from his immediate purpose, to stop and help a stranger in need.

When Jonathan had pulled over and approached the van he was focusing on the man trapped within. Evidently he wasn't aware, didn't notice an oncoming tractor-trailer. The driver of the tractor-trailer attempted to stop while approaching the scene, but in the process the trailer jackknifed, blocking the southbound lane, striking Jonathan.

Another, fourth vehicle slammed into the trailer. Neither the tractor-trailer driver nor the subsequent pickup driver that slammed into the trailer was hurt. Jonathan Antler-Paquette died immediately at the scene of his intention to rescue someone in need of help.

Why? Just for the Hell of it!

"You've been in your boat for 15 hours and you've got another 12 hours to go. You just do everything in your power to not think about how much you don't want to be paddling."
"For the first month, I kept thinking to myself, 'Why are we doing this?'"
Graham Henry, 23, Victoria, British Columbia

Photo courtesy henrykayak.com

"You can see the storms coming. It would be blue skies. Then the wind and rain comes and you're in the middle of this massive, dark, brutal thunder storm.
"And our paddles are carbon fibre, so they're conductive. We're just hoping we don't get hit [by lightning'."
Russell Henry, 21

Anyone living in beautiful British Columbia has access to any number of outdoor adventures. From paddling the Bowron Lakes circuit, to embarking on a week-end of alpine camping. When I was in my 50s, I did both. We clambered up Long Peak, making our way over the Gates of Shangri-la, a rockfall with boulders the size of a vehicle, halfway through the scramble to the mountainside where we pitched our tent on the gentlest slope we could find, vaguely approximating level ground, above a melting glacier, in August, where we got our drinking water.

As for the Bowron Lakes canoe circuit, it took us a week to canoe all the lakes and rivers to complete the circuit. We did that in September, the adventure of driving from Vancouver to Cache Creek and beyond to our Cariboo Mountains destination at the 3,000-foot-above-sea-level area where we had to wear winter jackets against the cold and rain gear over that, because it rained every single day without let-up. I know what it's like to paddle for long, long hours, exhausted and wanting to stop.

But brothers Russell and Graham Henry embarked purposefully for "the hell of it", on a 7,000-kilometre kayaking expedition across the Atlantic. It took them 200 days to paddle from Brazil to Florida. They spoke afterward about "that gnawing sense of dread". I'm familiar with that feeling too, the joy of the unknown adventure ahead mingled with worries about what obstacles you may meet on the way.

Russell and Graham Henry kayaking in the Dominican Republic. (Yanna Cueto)

I can relate to that too, in a minor way, for the day-trips that took us further up the mountain from our camp site, along ridges leading to other summits, finding blue-green lakes high in the mountains and glaciers pink with algae bloom also introduced us to the adrenalin-high adventure of sitting atop a mountain summit admiring the view when, looking up, up and beyond where we sat, where the mountain tops marched on endlessly, we saw a huge black cloud formation headed our way.

We did an absolutely mad scramble back the way we had come, telescoping the area from here to there in record time, managing to dive into our welcoming tent just as the massive storm struck, wind pushing and shoving our tent, rain pelting down all around us for what seemed like hours in the dark, cramped and worrying circumstances of being caught out, vulnerable, and by that time getting fairly hungry.

When the storm finally wore itself out and moved on elsewhere, we saw across from where we sat, on another mountain peak over at the Stein Valley, that someone had succeeded in lighting a fire, and we cheered lustily.

Our adventure was as nothing compared to brothers Russell and Graham, needless to say. They travelled, according to their account, as long as 27 hours between rest stops. Tropical storms and massive waves were what they were forced to contend with. They were on a vast, open and endless ocean, in two specialized, one-man kayaks.

Russell Henry, 23, took this photo from his kayak as he and his brother paddled into a thunderstorm off the coast of the island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. (Russell Henry)

Seven months after they set off from northeastern Brazil, along the South American coast, and kayaking between Caribbean Islands, they landed at Juno Beach, on the southern tip of Florida. This was their bid for "adventure for adventure's sake". Quite the adventure for anyone to boldly contemplate much less to commit to because what they had looked forward to was "being outdoors for the hell of it."

It no doubt helped enormously that their father is a water sports outfitter. Who designed the Kevlar boats his sons depended on throughout their trip. No strangers to kayaks the brothers were confident in their proficiency at handling the small craft. And handle them they did under the most excruciatingly concerning circumstances. Their travels on the high seas took them past twenty countries and territories.

Sending regular email updates to their parents throughout their adventure. They also maintained a daily website. They had a number of sponsors who helped with their adventure in a supporting role with the equipment and provisioning they required. An inheritance they had from their grandmother was an additional expenses lift. They memorialized their grandmother by painting each of their watercraft with her name.

"I might have wanted to kill Russell on more than one occasion, but I couldn't, because I wouldn't have finished the trip", Graham stated jocularly, more in gratitude for having enjoyed the companionship of someone intimate who shared his ambitious idea of the outside and adventurous fun, than the expression of mild irritation that the adventure was finally over.

The Prince And The Pauper

Young children who become resentful and angry against their parents because of a punishment meted out in an effort to teach them to become responsible for themselves, often imagine themselves to have been given to the wrong parents. Their real parents, the children fantasize, would never punish them. Their real parents would be wealthy, perhaps of royal or patrician stock, and the child, had it been delivered to the right parents and not switched at birth, would be able to have anything it wanted.

Life can be so cruel, these children think, weeping in anguish over their sad lot in life.

Of course, these are momentary, childish aberrations. We get over these things. We are guided by our parents and become reasonable human beings eventually; at least most of us do. We set aside that kind of fruitless day-dreaming, and realize, as we grow older that we're unfair to our parents to value them so slightly that we would prefer to have been raised by others. And we adjust to life and make the most of it with our genetic endowments and the firm guidance of our parents. And luck.

There have been books written about just such scenarios, however, children separated at birth, by some unaccountable and unfortunate error, from their genetic parents. Taken away by others to become their own, unaware that an exchange had been made. Apart from literature tackling the subject, there have been documented instances when just such occurrences became reality. And one such occurrence was recently revealed to have taken place, in Japan.

When three brothers of a wealthy family, in adulthood and after the deaths of their parents, thought how unlike them their older brother seemed. They discussed the matter and prevailed upon him to agree to take a DNA test. And they discovered that what they had imagined was in actual fact true; their older brother didn't share any of their DNA, so obviously an error had occurred. They went back to the hospital where he had been born in Tokyo in 1953 to check records.

At the time two women had given birth to two little boys. A nurse took the babies away to bathe them, and then she exchanged the clothing that each had been wearing, and returned the babies to their mothers. But the nurse returned the babies to the wrong mothers who evidently did not themselves realize they were given the wrong babies. One of the mothers was reported to have noted later that her baby was wearing the 'wrong' clothing.

And now we know exactly why those plastic bracelets with identifying information are always placed on the ankles of newborns. In fact, anyone entering hospital for any manner of procedure is given one of those bracelets.

The families think the mothers believed something was wrong

The men are now 60 years of age. The child born to wealthy parents was given to a couple who lived in poverty and as a result, so did he. He lived with those parents not his genetic parents, along with siblings whom he loved. The father of the family died when the boy was only two years of age, and the family lived thereafter on welfare, barely able to cope. He he became older he studied at night school enabling him to work day shifts in a factory. And eventually he became a full-time truck driver.

He never married. He is emotionally close to his 'brothers', three other men who are not his birth brothers but with whom he lived as a child. And he contributes to their care and their upkeep. The other infant, who was the genetic offspring of the poor parents, grew up in wealth and with opportunity, attending the best schools, and ending up head of a property company. He too had three brothers, who also work for major companies.

His three younger brothers had suspected that because he didn't resemble them or their parents in any way, there might be a possibility he was not really their birth brother. And when tests confirmed that, and when they found evidence at the hospital that led them to a search to discover the whereabouts of their real brother, there was a reunion. All four men have grown fond of one another, the three younger ones telling their newfound older brother they will still have years of pleasure in one another.

"I wondered how this could have happened. I could not believe it. To be honest, I did not want to accept it. I might have had a different life. I want [the hospital] to roll back the clock to the day that I was born. As I saw pictures of my parents, I wanted to see them alive. For months, I could not hold back the tears every time I saw their pictures", said the truck driver. But he has become philosophical about what happened to him. He loved his adoptive mother and his brothers in that family and has few regrets on that account.

He and his three 'new' genetic brothers launched a lawsuit against the San-Ikukai Hospital in Sumida Ward. The Tokyo District Court ordered the hospital to pay the man 38-million yen ($393,000), a considerable sum in damages, in reflection of the accidental transfer of babies. "The links between the man and his real parents were severed and the man was forced to grow up in a poor home. The mental anguish he went through was enormous", said Judge Masatoshi Miyasaka in his ruling. 

What We See

A false-colour Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) of a mid-sagittal section through the head of a normal 42 year-old woman, showing structures of the brain, spine and facial tissues (Image: Mehau Kulyk / Science Photo Library)

The human mind is a little-understood, incredibly complex and always-surprising engine of thought and imagination and discrimination and intelligence and perceptions. And we have the human brain to thank for all of that, that ingenious pathway to perception and understanding and movement designed by nature for whom no task however complex appears to have been too daunting for a blueprint to appear and for nature to studiously furnish the living, breathing creature she had herself imagined, then brought into reality.

The brain is the most complex organ in the human body. It produces our every thought, action, memory, feeling and experience of the world. This jelly-like mass of tissue, weighing in at around 1.4 kilograms, contains a staggering one hundred billion nerve cells, or neurons.

The complexity of the connectivity between these cells is mind-boggling. Each neuron can make contact with thousands or even tens of thousands of others, via tiny structures called synapses. Our brains form a million new connections for every second of our lives. The pattern and strength of the connections is constantly changing and no two brains are alike.

It is in these changing connections that memories are stored, habits learned and personalities shaped, by reinforcing certain patterns of brain activity, and losing others.

This cannot by any means be an absolutely rare occurrence. But it is in brief, a story of a man who lives yet in Ottawa. At 86 years of age now, he lives in a nursing home and is dependent on the use of an electrified wheelchair to get around. He is obviously a kind man, and a man of gentle good humour; not surprising that those characteristics group around someone who has known his share of pain in his lifetime.

He is the last of a family of six children. When he was born, his eyeballs were 'elongated', making him very short-sighted. He wore prescription eyeglasses whose lenses were so thick, to correct his vision, that his eyes almost seemed to disappear, from the perspective of someone looking at his small face. So, for a while he could see, but then the lenses of his eyes turned dark. And when that happened he was able to read or to count fingers by placing them just about at the tip of his nose.

He was able to see almost as far as his feet, looking down at them, but not seeing them, for his eyesight was incapable of meeting even that challenge. He adjusted to his blindness, and as blind people do, over-compensated through his other organs, his sense of touch and hearing and smell. He became observant in a way that people with eyesight have no need to be. Voices meant much more to him, and he could understand the shape of things under his exploring fingers.

Wherever he went, whomever he met, he imagined what a room, a building, a street, looked like. And he had an idea, invented in his head, what people looked like as he imagined them to, by their voice, by the interaction he had with them, by his experiences. And then when he was 66 years old, the science of medical optics produced a kind of plastic that the eyeball would accept, and he was fitted with a set of clear plastic lenses to take the place of his natural, blackened pair

 Donald “Red” Wellington went blind at the age of five and remained that way for 61 years until artificial lens implants regained his sight at the age of 66.    Photograph by: JULIE OLIVER , OTTAWA CITIZEN

 

Suddenly he could see. And not merely see as much as he was able to when he was a child before he'd gone completely blind. He suddenly and to him miraculously, had acute eyesight. Colour dazzled him; size, texture and the presentation of reality confused him. And the sight that was restored to him overwhelmed him. He was suffering from sight overload, his eyesight finally presenting him with the kind of vision that made everything clear, but which confused him because it conflicted with what he imagined.

As a regular volunteer at a soup kitchen, he was familiar with all the regulars. He 'knew' what they looked like, because he had imagined what all those voices' faces were like. And once he could see after 61 years of sightlessness, he was unable to connect those familiar voices to the unfamiliar faces and it caused him great distress. His reliable old functional world had turned itself inside out. When vision is impaired or missing, the brain makes neural pathways in compensation.

Evidently there is research that demonstrates when people depend on their sense of touch to 'see', the brain forms images and memories. These new routes are disrupted when sightlessness returns to sighted. Once sight returns, habit born of actual need, dependent on those neural pathways, require that objects still be handled and touched as they were when sightless, to obtain the real picture in the mind's eye...until new neural pathways adjusting to the new reality form over time.

He was able to cope with his visual disability because he had become accustomed to understanding and 'seeing' in his own very unique way. It took him quite awhile before his brain re-adjusted to the reality that the head in which it was ensconced was now sighted once again. It took him 18 years to adjust, but adjust he did. And he is so transfixed with wonder at the things he sees; things that might seem simple and fundamental to the always-sighted, but amazing no end, to this man.

He has no need to travel too far from his roots to marvel at everything that surrounds him. Colour is particularly fascinating, and colourful lights at night mesmerize him with the wonder of it all. Seeing things in motion, from vehicles to animals to people, grabs his undivided attention.

"It's beautiful here. Have you ever seen the Parliament Building at night (referring to the summertime sound and light show)? Look at that. That's beautiful. I could look at that all day", he said, pointing to a Canadian flag in the breeze, seen from the sixth floor of his room in the nursing home.