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WEEKEND EDITION
Red Deer Advocate SATURDAY, OCT. 3, 2015
www.reddeeradvocate.com
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Ray of sunshine IT’S A MIRACLE THAT DERY WANG WOKE UP FROM HIS COMA, LET ALONE TALKED, AFTER SUFFERING MAJOR BRAIN TRAUMA
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Dery Wang, 17, with his mother, Lily Jin, and sister, Alena, 8, and father, Tommy, in Dery’s hospital room at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre earlier this week.
D
ery Wang — described by his father as a “sunshine boy” and by his teachers as a “superstar” — had just graduated from Hunting Hills High School in June. The popular 17-year-old’s future could hardly have been more promising. He had thought about becoming an actuary — one of those very smart people who uses theory and math and statistics to determine risk factors. Instead, he decided to study engineering, and last month he was supposed to be entering his first year at the University of Alberta. But before that could happen, a darkness came crashing straight down onto his life path like boulders in an avalanche. It was something Dery and his devoted family and friends could never have imagined. MARY-ANN Very early on July 4, the BARR young scholar, athlete and community volunteer got on BARRSIDE his bicycle and headed to the Greyhound bus station in downtown Red Deer. He was going to spend the day with friends at the Calgary Stampede. His parents, Lily Jin and Tommy Wang, wanted to take him to the bus, but being the physically active person he is, Dery really wanted to ride his bicycle. Later in the day he intended to bike home when he returned to Red Deer. Dery put on his helmet and jumped on his bike to catch the 3:30 a.m. bus that would have got him to Calgary by 6 a.m. He did not get very far. At about 3 a.m., a passersby found Dery lying on the ground at the intersection of 32nd Street and Mitchell Avenue. He had been run down from be-
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hind by a vehicle, and was so severely injured that it would later be determined he had lost almost four litres of blood. Humans have about five litres in their bodies. The Good Samaritans who found him gave him first aid until EMS and RCMP arrived. They wouldn’t have known they were administering ‘HE’S JUST AN AWESOME to a young YOUNG MAN. HE’S ONE man who was on his high OF MY SUPERSTARS ACschool’s First ADEMICALLY AND IN MY Aid Team, and who had himTRIATHALON CLASS. HE self recently WAS ON MY CROSS-COUNwon the Best Standard TRY RUNNING TEAM FOR First Aid CapTHREE YEARS. (HE IS) tain award in a provincial SUPER POSITIVE, SUPER competition. Dery sufOUTGOING AND JUST THE fered numerNICEST GUY YOU WOULD ous broken bones and EVER MEET . . . . other injuries, AN AWESOME KID.’ but more devastating in the — BRIAN JOHNSON long-term, it FORMER TEACHER, COACH would be determined that the carotid artery in his neck that supplies blood to his brain had been torn, cutting off the blood supply. As a result, he suffered major brain trauma. A 25-year-old Red Deer man is now facing serious charges — refusing to supply a breath sample, dangerous operation of motor vehicle causing bodily harm and criminal negligence causing bodily harm. The case has begun to wind through the court system.
After Dery was found, he was rushed to Red Deer Regional Hospital, stabilized, and then flown by STARS to an Edmonton hospital. “His parents were basically going to Edmonton while he was being flown in STARS and weren’t sure he was going to make it,” said Brian Johnson, one of Dery’s former teachers and coaches. “He’s just an awesome young man. He’s one of my superstars academically and in my triathalon class. He was on my cross-country running team for three years.” Dery had the second highest academic average in Grade 11, said Johnson, but his biggest attribute is he is “super positive, super outgoing and just the nicest guy you would ever meet. … An awesome kid.” Johnson, his wife, Diana Gelden, and their daughter Megan Johnson, a former classmate of Dery’s, have been helping him and his parents ever since the incident. The Wangs immigrated to Canada from China in 2001 when Dery was three.
Please see RECOVERY on Page A2
Bakery that caters to all sorts of diets opens Serving up gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo and vegan baked goods, Red Deer’s newest bakery is officially open for business. Story on PAGE B7
PLEASE RECYCLE