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LSS Blues set sights on provincials P. 19
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
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Stepping out for workplace tragedies Local Steps for Life walk raises awareness and funds Niomi Pearson THE CHRONICLE
LINDSAY CHUNG/CHRONICLE
The crew salutes the commodore during the Ladysmith Yacht Club’s opening day sailpast Sunday afternoon. Members of both the Ladysmith Yacht Club and the Mount Brenton Power Squadron participated in the sailpast, saluting the commodores of both clubs and having their vessels blessed. Opening day festivities also included a reception and barbecue at the Ladysmith Yacht Club’s clubhouse.
You could say that Shaun Mckenzie sees life from a different point of view. Classified a c56 quadruplegic, Mckenzie experiences all life has to offer from the seat of his wheelchair, after a work-related spinal cord injury took away the use of his hands and legs nearly 14 years ago. “Things change in a big way when you go from someone who’s on their feet all the time hunting, fishing and outdoors all the time [to a wheelchair],” he said. “I do all those things again, but it takes years of readjusting.” “It’s like learning to live all over again.” Mckenzie is currently one of only four Vancouver Island members on the B.C. wheelchair rugby team. He also represented Saskatchewan’s provincial team for six years. Two days a week, he travels from his Cassidy home to practise in Duncan and Victoria. Stories like Mckenzie’s have inspired Town of Ladysmith employees to spearhead the Steps for Life walk, a five-kilometre non-competitive event to raise awareness of and money for workplace injuries. Ladysmith will be one of three sites
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across B.C. hosting the event, and this will mark the second annual walk for the town. “It’s very exciting that it’s happening here,” said Charlotte Williams, a walk organizer. “It’s very big in Ontario, and it’s moving its way west.” The walk will be held at Frank Jameson Community Centre this Friday [May 11] in conjunction with North American Occupational Safety and Health Week. Funds raised during Steps for Life benefit the Threads of Life, a national charity dedicated to helping families affected by workplace tragedies. “The whole idea was to get our workers from the Town of Ladysmith to encourage our community to work safe and work to prevent any kind of workplace tragedy,” Williams said. “It doesn’t have to be something that a person would necessarily die from, but it could make a major change in a person’s life.” Mckenzie’s life-changing accident took place in July 1998 while he was working as a moving truck driver for the Nanaimo Minute Men. “It was just a routine day at work; I was heading up to Port Hardy to deliver a load and fell asleep at the wheel just north of Campbell River,” he recalled. “I can’t even say what brought it on; it had never happened See Walk Page 3
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