2013 Community Leader Award winners Special publication inside
Jays win one of four at home page 13
Tuesday June 25, 2013
Serving Surrey and North Delta www.surreyleader.com
A benefit to help Alivia
Fundraiser planned for Surrey parents coping with their daughter’s sudden serious illness by Sheila Reynolds
but it occurs most often in children and is estimated to strike only one in every half-million to a million IT’S AS if it happened overnight. people. One day, Alivia Code is a healthy little girl who “It was almost like she was fine one day, and then loves music and crafts, and the next, she is dazed and not the next,” said her grandma, Karleen Sabourin. unresponsive. “This child is a very intelligent, happy child – full of Alivia, a smart “girly-girl” who loves crafts and spirit.” music, was walking to school with her Over the following months, between mom last September. Early in the school doctor’s visits, Alivia began to display the year, she had only just started Grade 1 at fast-progressing symptoms of the disease: Surrey’s William F. Davidson Elementary. brain injury, loss of speech and partial As they approached the school, Alivia loss of the ability to use her right arm. suddenly began walking in a circle, gazShe can walk, but with a limp and a brace ing up at the sky. Unsure what she was on her right leg. doing, her mom said her name several Now seven years old, she’s faced times, trying to get her attention. Alivia multiple treatments and been on a steady didn’t respond. stream of medications. Since April, due A trip to the hospital resulted in a batto complications from the disease and Karleen Sabourin drug therapy, Alivia has been in B.C. tery of tests and it was soon confirmed Alivia had suffered a seizure. It was her Children’s Hospital. first, but there were many, many more to come. A scan On Wednesday, she underwent an eight-hour brain showed she had inflammation on the left side of her surgery. It’s hoped the operation, called Functional brain, and eventually, doctors reached a diagnosis. Hemispherectomy, will ease the seizures, which she Alivia, her parents were told, had Rasmussen’s now has between 10 and 12 times an hour. Encephalitis, a rare form chronic inflammation of one See ALIVIA / Page 4 hemisphere of the brain. There is no known cause,
“It was almost like she was fine one day, and then not the next.”
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Alivia Code, 7, underwent surgery last week to try to remedy the effects of Rasmussen’s Encephalitis, a rare inflammation of the brain that strikes only one in every half-million to a million people.
Surrey aims to close the book on homophobia School trustees adopt regulation on sexual orientation and gender identity by Sheila Reynolds THURSDAY WAS a big night for
Anthony Hope. The Surrey student was onhand as school trustees gave their unanimous approval to an antihomophobia regulation. “It’s very validating for me because it signals that the board
does care about students like me and students who are LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning), or have gay or lesbian parents or gender identity issues,” said Hope. “The board is recognizing this and saying that it’s okay.” Prior to coming out, he said, there were times he felt it was far
from okay to be gay. He hated himself and was afraid because everything he read about homosexuality seemed to be negative. But when a friend committed suicide as a result of gay bashing, Hope took action. He was among a group that approached the Surrey Board of Education a year ago, calling for the school district to establish an anti-
homophobia policy. A committee comprised of teachers, district staff, parents and students was struck almost immediately, spending months forming a stand-alone regulation aimed at supporting “students, staff and community members of all sexual orientations or gender identities.”
Editorial 6 Letters 7 Sports 12 Classifieds 19
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Save time, save money.
Anthony Hope