Burnaby NOW • Wednesday, November 14, 2012 • A11
15 1950s culinary fare
25 Christmas bureau
27 Local actors in Grease
SECTION COORDINATOR Jennifer Moreau, 604-444-3021 jmoreau@burnabynow.com
LIVELY CITY Marelle Reid
Local author at library T
een fiction is all the rage these days, with series like Twilight and The Hunger Games flying off bookshelves all over town. For a chance to meet an awardwinning teen fiction writer, head over to the McGill branch of the Burnaby Public Library tonight (Nov. 14) from 7 to 8 p.m. to hear Vancouver writer Carrie Mac read from and discuss her work, as well as answer all your burning questions about youth lit. Mac has published several teen novels, including The Opposite of Tidy, The Beckoners, The Gryphon Project and the Triskelia trilogy. Some of her accolades include the Arthur Ellis YA award, the Stellar Book Award, several CLA Honour books and the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize, which she was awarded for The Gryphon Project. Mac is also a paramedic with the B.C. Ambulance Service. For more information about the reading event, call 604297-4803, or email julia.nel son@bpl.ca. The library is located at 4595 Albert St.
Guest author
Burnaby group Spoken INK welcomes guest author Linda Svendsen on Tuesday, Nov. 20 at 8 p.m. at La Fontana Caffé, to read from her latest novel, Sussex Drive. Svendsen is a professor in the creative writing program at the University of British Columbia, who has won numerous awards for her work and been published in The Atlantic, Saturday Night, O. Henry Prize Stories, Best Canadian Stories and The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. She is also the coproducer/writer of the miniseries Human Cargo, which garnered seven Gemini Awards and a George Foster Peabody Award. Meet other writers and literary aficionados and hear some excerpts from Svenden’s “startlingly funny and deeply satisfying satirical novel that makes the Canadian political scene accessible from the female perspective, behind the scenes at the top of the hill.” For more information, visit www.BurnabyWritersNews.blog spot.com or email bwscafe@gmail. com. The cafe is at 101-3701 East Hastings St., and the open mike signup starts at 7:30 p.m.
Jason Lang/burnaby now
Opening doors: From left, Liana Martin, Andy Martin with their son Daniel with Poppy and Eugene Siormanolakis, owners of Romana, a family-run restaurant in the Heights. Poppy offered to help the Martins with a fundraiser for their son, who has a rare genetic disease.
Helping hand, from family to family Extraordinarily rare disease leads parents to international conference for education, help Jennifer Moreau staff reporter
A North Vancouver family is thanking the owner of a Burnaby restaurant for opening her doors to help their son, who has a rare genetic disorder. Liana and Andy Martin’s son Daniel has Lowe syndrome, a disease so rare, his is the only case in B.C. The family makes biennial trips to international conferences hosted by the Lowe Syndrome Association, but the journeys can be costly. Andy estimates the trips can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $6,000, which puts financial stress on the family. “We’re raising a special needs child. I make reasonably well money, but I’m not fantastically well paid, and neither is my wife,” he said. The Martins attend the conference to get the latest information on Lowe syndrome, but the event also serves as a venue for support because families talk to each other and share experiences of having a loved one with Lowe syndrome. According to Andy, because Lowe syndrome is so rare, many doctors are unfamiliar with the disease, and he and Liana are often the ones educating the doctors, which is also why they need to attend these conferences to stay informed with the latest developments. According to the Lowe Syndrome Association, the disease is caused by a genetic mutation that affects the kidney,
eyes and brain and leads to various menThe Martins have been long-time patrons tal and physical disabilities. Some typical at Romana, a family-run restaurant in the characteristics are cataracts, glaucoma, sei- Heights that has been going strong for zures, poor muscle development, cognitive nearly four decades. delays and severe behaviour problems. “She came over to us at the table, because Lowe syndrome usually shows up in chil- my wife is friends with her on Facebook,” dren that are one year old, but it only Andy said, “and she said, ‘Is there anyseems to affect males. There’s no cure, but thing I can do to help?’” many symptoms are treatable. The two parties talked and Siormanolakis For 19-year-old Daniel, the offered to open her restaurant disease means he is developprovide food for a fundrais“She came over and mentally closer to seven or er, and the Martins have agreed to us at the table, to sell the tickets, with all proeight years old, he has glaucoma and he takes medication … and she said, ceeds going to the family. to slow down kidney failure. When contacted by the NOW, ‘Is there anyHe also has an extreme averSiormanolakis said that whoevsion to flying, so intense that thing I can do to er eats in her restaurants starts the family was nearly kicked out as a customer and becomes help?” off an airplane a couple of family. years ago. Siormanolakis was tearing ANDY MARTIN “He was screaming, pretty up over the phone when speakFather much at the top of his lungs, ing of Daniel’s condition. until the plane started mov“I’m very emotional like that, ing,” Andy said. The screams died down (with) things like that. I see the mother, I to a low whimper, but Daniel, arms out- see the father how they are struggling,” stretched, was begging other passengers she said. to take him home. “We don’t fly anymore Siormanolakis explained that the restauwith him.” rant has held fundraisers before, and it’s The conference is set for June 2013 in their way of giving back to a community Orlando, Florida, but driving will cost the that has supported the family’s business family considerably more than flying, as it for decades. will take longer and they have to stay in “The community gave us a lot. They hotels along the way. The Martins estimate gave us prosperity, they gave us happithey need about $5,500 to $6,000 for the ness, they gave us life by coming to our trip. place, because we are a family restaurant. So when Liana posted on Facebook that They supported us, they gave us smiles, her family was about to start a fundrais- they gave us happiness, so we are trying to ing journey, word of their plight caught give back,” she says. the attention of Burnaby business owner “I was not even thinking to be in Poppy Siormanolakis, who runs Romana the newspaper. This was something we Pizza and Steak House on Hastings Street. Family Page 14