chocolate shop hit by thieves
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city decries sale of land
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being led down the garden path
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friday
March 29 2013 www.burnabynewsleader.com
new poll shows that most people are willing to give more money to translink. See Page a10
Students to get two-week spring break To start next year as pilot project Wanda chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
MarIO BarTEL/NEWSLEaDEr
sarah le huray says she was handed lemons when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis last year, so she’s decided to make lemonade by raising awareness and funds for research into the causes of the disease.
Making lemonade from a sour diagnosis Mario Bartel
photo@burnabynewsleader.com
Sarah Le Huray knew what was wrong with her even before her doctor was able to give her a diagnosis. Staring at the black and white MRI image of her brain flickering on the computer monitor as she awaited her doctor’s arrival, Le Huray recognized the white blotches scattered across her brain. She understood their significance. After all, she worked with brain scans for seven years as a medical researcher in the neurology department at the
University of British Columbia. Le Huray had multiple sclerosis. Her self-diagnosis though, didn’t make her doctor’s confirmation a few moments later any easier to take. “It hit me pretty hard,” says Le Huray, 33. It also explained the sudden loss of vision in her right eye months earlier while she was on vacation in England, as well as the occasional hearing loss in one ear, the sudden loss of coordination and fine motor skills that could last from a couple of days to a couple of weeks, and
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the numbness and tingling in her left foot. Le Huray’s area of expertise was Alzheimers, but the team of researchers working on MS was just down the hall. She knew many of the neurologists, saw them every day. She couldn’t help but be struck by the irony of her affliction. As her way to cope, she sought knowledge from her colleagues. “It calms me to know exactly what’s going on,” says Le Huray. “I have this background and right off the bat I have all this information at my fingertips and people to connect
with.” But the reality of her situation brings little comfort. “The scary part of MS is that it doesn’t go away, it’s permanent,” says Le Huray of the chronic neurological disease that afflicts 55-75,000 Canadians, most of them young adults between the ages of 15 and 40. “It makes me worried about my future.” And for her two young children, who know their mom has to take medicine but can’t understand when she’s too fatigued to play with them. please see MS WaLk, a3
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Burnaby school district is adopting a two-week spring break starting next year, the school board decided at its meeting Tuesday. The board approved the change as a oneyear pilot project because it’s a matter of matching the calendars of other Metro Vancouver districts and that’s as far ahead as they go, explained Burnaby district superintendent Kevin Kaardal. In 2014, the official spring break in Burnaby will be March 17 to 21, followed by a schools closure period of March 24 to 28, Kaardal said. Burnaby had been one of only two Metro Vancouver municipalities to still have a one-week break along with New Westminster, which also approved the two-week vacation period on Tuesday. “The primary benefit in terms of looking at this is savings,” said Kaardal, noting about $250,000 will be saved in energy costs and not having to hire substitute teachers. please see SavINgS, a3