Police seek assault victim, susPect
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tackling hand-held holdouts
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Quest new west returns
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wednesday
May 21 2014 www.newwestnewsleader.com
kristyl clark talks about letting her children dare to be who they are. See Page a6
Minister ponders NWSS numbers DPAC worried long-awaited project will be scuttled Grant Granger
ggranger@newwestnewsleader.com
Evan SEal/Black PRESS
mom christine ashton holds her 7-month-old twins thaddeus and Quinntin ashton, who were born oct. 11 at 23 weeks at royal columbian hospital.
Tiny twins defying the odds ‘Micro-preemie’ twins born the length of a pencil at 23 weeks not only survive, but thrive Sheila Reynolds
Born at 23 weeks (four months been a “normal” pregnancy when early), Quinntin, the larger of she started to feel sick and got a the two, weighed 570 grams (1.3 headache. When the on-and-off pounds) while his brother was pain didn’t subside, she called a 405 grams (0.9 relative who had pounds)—small three children enough to be of her own. christine ashton cupped in their The description every day i’m so amazed father’s hand. sounded a lot like at their progress. it’s a “Every day I’m labour pain and total miracle. so amazed at their she rushed Ashton progress,” says firstfrom her home in time mom Christine Ashton. “It’s a North Surrey to Royal Columbian total miracle.” Hospital (RCH) 15 minutes away. Last October, she was into the Her babies weren’t due until second trimester of what had February.
choIcEquotes
Black Press
Their names are Thaddeus Ison and Quinntin Ouran, fraternal twin boys with big names to match their growing personalities. Holding the now seven-monthold babies—nicknamed Mister T and Master Q—it’s difficult to fathom that at birth they were about the length of a pencil.
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Ashton was immediately hospitalized and given medication to slow labour, and more than one doctor came to her room to warn her the odds of her babies surviving weren’t good. Very few twins are born at 24 weeks in Canada each year and the statistics are even lower for twins born at 23 weeks, like hers. “It was way too soon,” she remembers. “I just wanted them to stay inside me. Every day I’d be curled up in a ball, praying.”
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The high cost of dealing with soil conditions and site issues has the province hesitating on approving replacement of New Westminster secondary. And that has the district’s parent advisory council (DPAC) worried. Education Minister Peter Fassbender acknowledged the project was complicated and expensive when he met with district officials last week. The ministry and district have agreed the replacement school will have a capacity of 1,900 students. Schools project manager Jim Alkins said the ministry has a formula to determine capital project funds based on the student numbers. The district told Fassbender the estimated cost of dealing with soil remediation and an old cemetery on the site. That will drive the price tag above the formula, admitted Alkins. see ‘ThE MoRE’, a3