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July 18, 2012
A division of
Vol. 27 No. 57
COMOX VALLEY RECORD Your community. Your newspaper. www.comoxvalleyrecord.com
Love continuing after newlywed’s death
FILBERG SOUNDS OUNDS
Renée Andor Record Staff
New sumemr music series continues at Filberg. ■ 12
KICKING UP HEELS
Comox Valley soccer player Bryce Marinus has earned a spot on Team BC that competes at the CSA national championships this week in Newfoundland and Labrador. The 16-year-old is the only Vancouver Island resident who made the provincial all-star team. After training in Vancouver, the squad won the Sounders Cup in Seattle, then underwent further training before heading off to nationals.
... Complete story on ■ 17
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Courtenay’s Emily Wood, 24, lost her battle with cancer on Saturday, but her husband vows to continue fighting for her. Near the end of June, Emily was given three to 12 months to live after she was told treatments were not working on the aggressive large-cell lymphoma cancer she was diagnosed with early in the year. Husband Shawn Wood, 28, has announced he will create the Emily Ann Foundation, through which he will fight Emily’s fight by helping other people who are in her situation. “We looked into lots of programs, like Make a Wish and those kind of programs, and there’s a lot of paperwork and there’s a lot of time it takes for them to start helping and, you know, when those people are in dire straits I just want to be able to go, ‘We’re here, we got you, let’s do it,’ you know, make that wish happen whatever it may be,” Shawn explained Monday. “That’s the kind of things I want to help with is when people have no one else to go to. I promised I’d keep fighting for her.” Emily’s dying wish was to marry Shawn, who was her love of nine years. Shawn reached out to the community to help make their wedding happen on July 3, just 10 days after Emily was told the treatments weren’t working and was given three to 12 months to live. The community responded with offers of goods, services and cash streaming in from businesses and individuals right away. Shawn also set up an indiegogo account online with a goal of $5,000 to help with the wedding expenses — that account received more than $12,000 in donations. Shawn said Emily felt her wish was granted, and their wedding day was the best day of both of their lives. He saw proof when he was going through their photos to create a video eulogy on Sunday night. “Going through the pictures last night, making this video — and I’ve got hundreds and hun-
EMILY WOOD, 24, lost her battle against cancer over the weekend. She passed away 11 days after she received her dying wish — to marry the love of her life, Shawn Wood. PHOTO SUBMITTED dreds of pictures, and I’m going through them all — and the happiest ones were our wedding,” he said Monday as he fought back tears. “That was her happiest day of her life.” After spending their wedding night at the Old House Village Hotel and Spa, they spent the next night at the Kingfisher Oceanside
Resort and Spa. He said Emily was feeling “like a million bucks” after their mini-honeymoon, but her health started deteriorating shortly after that. Vision problems, swelling in her legs, a drop in blood platelets and more pain were a few of her symptoms. Shawn cared for her at home until Friday evening
when she started having trouble breathing. Emily passed away in hospital early Saturday evening, and although Shawn noted she was heavily medicated later in the day, they had a chance to say goodbye to each other before. “She was able to look at me ... see PRIVATE ■ 2
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