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Murder victim may have been targeted
MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER
Amanda Yan, a member of Canada’s national wheelchair basketball team, gets in a little practice at the outdoor court near her home in Burnaby’s Edmonds area.
Athlete turns tragedy into triumph Mario Bartel
photo@burnabynewsleader.com
A terrible snowboard accident changed Amanda Yan’s life. And a basketball saved it. Yan, a Burnaby resident, fell into a deep depression after the accident, which cost her the use of her legs. She withdrew from her friends, family, school and activities. But today she has made a remarkable comeback, and is looking forward to representing Canada at the World Wheelchair Basketball Championships in 2014,
and the Paralympics in 2016. three times. Getting here, though, hasn’t been Her cellphone vibrating in easy. a pocket on her chest brought Yan was on her her back to last run of the day consciousness. It at Whistler when was her boarding Amanda Yan she lost an edge as companions, asking I was really closing myself she traversed a Cat if she was all right. off. It was very difficult. I track. She slipped “I’ll be OK,” Yan fell into self-pity. beneath a barrier assured them. and over a 100-foot cliff. But she wasn’t. “Oh my god, I’m going to die,” Yan’s back was broken, between thought Yan, who was a month the L1 and L2 vertebrae. She’d shy of her 20th birthday, as she never walk again. plummeted head first, flipping over Two weeks at Vancouver General
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Hospital and three months at the G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Centre gave her the physical tools to adjust to her new life in a wheelchair. She learned how to get around and take care of herself. “It’s hard to feel sorry for yourself when you’re living in a rehab centre with people with worse injuries than you,” says Yan. She started playing basketball when some athletes from BC Wheelchair Sports visited G.F. Strong to demonstrate their sport. see GETTING BACK IN THE GAME, A8
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The North Burnaby murder victim discovered by police Monday has been identified as 61-year-old Christina Docherty, say the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT). “Ms. Docherty was known to police and investigators believe that this was a targeted incident,” said Cpl. Dominic Duchesneau of IHIT on Wednesday. “Investigators are in the process of establishing a motive for this case. We are asking anyone who may have information about this case to please come forward.” At about 4:30 p.m. Monday afternoon, Burnaby RCMP responded to a call in the 4900-block of Hastings Street where they found the body of a woman inside an apartment. Burnaby Mounties secured the apartment and IHIT took over the investigation with the help of Burnaby officers and the Lower Mainland Forensic Identification Section. Anyone with information is asked to call Burnaby RCMP at 604-294-7922, the IHIT Tipline at 1-877551-4448 or by email at ihittipline@rcmp-grc. gc.ca. Or, to remain anonymous, call 1-800222-8477.