Annual Courage 2004

Recipients:

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Stephanie David - Youth Category

March 21, 2004 – Stephanie David, 18, of Richmond is the 2004 Courage to Come Back Award recipient in the Youth category.

Stephanie was a grade five student when a CAT scan revealed a malignant brain tumor. She underwent immediate surgery at Children’s Hospital, which left side-effects. She lost all coordination and balance on the left side of her body, her right eye rolled inward, and she needed extensive radiation treatments.

While receiving radiation and physiotherapy, she determined to catch up with her classmates and with much family encouragement and community support, returned to school for a few hours each day. Soon she was walking on her own, she had eye surgery to realign the muscles, and when grade six started, she was riding her bike. Four years later she underwent surgery again to remove cataracts caused by the radiation.

In grade seven, she started a fund-raiser for another young cancer patient, and joined several volunteer groups. Now in her final year at Hugh McRoberts High School in Richmond, she is a member of numerous community groups and fund-raising committees. She helps organize the school’s food and toy drives, and she and her grad class have exceeded their goal of raising $10,000; they now hope to raise $25,000 to purchase a blood platelet analyzer for Children’s Hospital.

Stephanie will graduate from High School in June and wants to become an occupational therapist.

Photo: Gerry Kahrmann - The Province

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Geoff McMurchy - Physical Rehabilitation Category

March 28, 2004 – Geoff McMurchy, 48, of Vancouver, is the recipient of the 2004 Courage to Come Back Award in the Physical Rehabilitation category.

Alberta-raised Geoff pursued art studies in Vancouver and was headed to Halifax for further education in 1977 when he was rendered quadriplegic by a diving accident at Lake Wabamun near Edmonton. After 5 months in hospital he returned to B.C., dependent on a wheelchair and with limited use of his hands.

Determined to be independent, he went back to work and has been self-sufficient for the last 25 years. He developed skills in computers and design, worked on a project basis for various organizations and became closely associated with the B.C. Coalition of People with Disabilities. He served on the Board and was an employee of the Coalition from the early 80s, deeply involved in expanding the magazine, "Transition" among other endeavors. He has also served numerous disability and arts organizations as a volunteer or Board member.

Since 1998, Geoff has been the moving force behind the Society for Disability Arts and Culture, which is mounting the KickstART2 Festival, a four-day event at the Roundhouse Community Centre in Vancouver in September, 2004. This year's gathering, which follows from the very successful inaugural kickstART! Celebration in 2001, brings together a wide variety of artists with disabilities.

Photo: Les Bazso - The Province

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Lori Wikdahl - General Medicine Category

Lori Wikdahl, 44, of Deroche is the 2004 Courage to Come Back award recipient in the General Medicine category. Lori devoted years of service to the field of child development. From her first symptoms in the mid-eighties, it took more than seven years for her diagnosis: multiple sclerosis, the disease which attacks the myelin sheaths in the brain and around nerves in the spinal cord.

Today, she can’t drive, cook or read very much. The single mother of two lost most of what made her life worth living. “I felt very guilty being disabled,” she says. The disease left her increasingly debilitated. “I became a hermit,” she remembers; “I lost my hope and faith.”

By 2002, she was virtually bedridden. But a painful trek back from a trip to get dog food inspired her to try walking, despite the pain and fatigue. She completed a 10-kilometre walk in Abbotsford. She had an idea: walk across Canada to raise awareness of MS. “I asked God to grant me a boon, and He did,” Lori says. The walk began in New Brunswick on May 1, 2003 and ended 6,423 kilometres later at English Bay, Vancouver on February 8, 2004 (www.transcanadatrek.1hwy.com). “It was the ultimate experience,” Lori recalls. “It showed me who I am, showed I’m not a quitter.”

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Mary Graham - Mental Health Category

Mary Graham, 55, of Vancouver is the recipient of the 2004 Courage to Come Back award in the Mental Health category.

Mary grew up in London, Ontario. As a teenager, she responded to feelings of rejection by slashing herself. For the next six years, she was taken to the hospital as often as three times a week, causing pain to herself on the outside to relieve the pain on the inside. She was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, but treatments failed: given medication, she would overdose, harming herself but stopping short of suicide.

She married at 23, had two children (now 25 and 28) but suffered spousal abuse, deciding that being hit by her husband was better than continuing to harm herself. Her family life fell apart and she went into a downward spiral, becoming a regular at local emergency rooms. She discovered the Self Abuse Finally Ends (SAFE) program in Chicago and her family doctor, Dorothy Haswell arranged for her to attend. Mary did not harm herself again.

She pioneered SAFE in Canada, set up programs in Australasia and returned to Canada to begin the SAFE program in B.C. She conducts scores of workshops and helps individuals take the steps necessary to stop harming themselves. “I want to educate as many people as I can.” she says; “these self-harmers are victims.”

Photo: Wayne Leidenfrost - The Province

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Florence Rickards - Social/Economic Adversity Category

Florence Rickards, 54, of Coquitlam is the 2004 Courage to Come Back Award Recipient in the Social/Economic Adversity category. Florence was born in Winnipeg, one of six children, growing up in extreme poverty. There was often violence in the home. At four, Florence called 911 because she thought her father was killing her mother. At 10, she survived a drowning attempt and was sent to a foster home. At 13, she ran away from her raging father but was assaulted by two men in a motel.

At 16, the family moved to British Columbia and lived in a chicken coop for three months. Florence finally ran away from her impoverished and abusive home life to a man who promised to protect her. When she got pregnant, he left and was never seen again. Determined to raise her son, Florence got a job at a fish stand. She took evening courses to become a social worker. Florence continued to go to night school while working full-time and later became a vocational rehabilitation counsellor and director of human resources. She finally obtained her MBA from SFU in 1996. Florence has since founded Lighthouse Coaching and Consulting, an organization dedicated to inspiring people to realize their passion and live their dreams.

Photo: Kim Stallknecht - The Province

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Rodney Fregin - Chemical Dependency Category

Rodney Fregin, 62, of Coquitlam is the 2004 Courage to Come Back award recipient in the Chemical Dependency category.

As an eight-year old, Rod took the bus to make drug deliveries. He injected heroin at 12 and at 14 was sent to reform school. At 16, he became the youngest inmate of the BC Penitentiary, where he was schooled by hardened criminals. After release, Rod embarked on a career of armed robberies to support his drug habit, which cost more than $500 a day in today's money.

He then spent another 14 years inside: on parole in 1986 he went on a four-month binge, then tried unsuccessfully to kill himself. Feeling hopeless and helpless, he stumbled into a Salvation Army detox centre and went from there to a recovery program at Miracle Valley near Mission. Initially skeptical, he became a Christian and was asked to become a counsellor. He also got back into the work force though his criminal record and several relapses made life difficult.

Rod met his future wife Yvonne (Courage to Come Back award recipient - 2002) in 1988 and has been drug-free since 1989. The two were married in 1994 and Rod has two step-children (one a Mountie). He was pardoned in 2002, is a youth support worker at Aunt Leah's Independent Life Skills Society and an active member of the Coquitlam Alliance Church.

Photo: Wayne Leidenfrost - The Province