Loading...
The Lucknow Sentinel, 2013-11-13, Page 44 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, November 13, 2013 www.lucknowsentinel.com The Lucknow Sentinel VOLUME 137 - ISSUE 45 PUBLISHED WEEKLY P.O. Box 400, 619 Campbell Street Lucknow Ontario NOG 2H0 phone: 519-528-2822 fax: 519-528-3529 www.lucknowsentinel.com SUN MEDIA A Quebecor Media Company MARIE DAVID Publisher marie.david@sun media.ca TROY PATTERSON Editor troy. patterson@sunmedia.ca JILLIAN UNDERWOOD Sales representative ji I lian. underwood@sunmedia.ca MARILYN MILTENBURG office administrator lucknow.sentinel@sunmedia.ca Publications Mail Agreement No. 40064683 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO SENTINEL CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT P.O. Box 400 Lucknow ON NOG 2110 For any non -deliveries or delivery concerns: phone: 519-528-2822 e-mail: lucknow.senti nel©su nmed ia.ca Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. All advertising and editorial deadlines: Friday 2 p.m. Changes of address, orders for subscriptions, and undeliverable copies (return postage guaranteed) are to be sent to The Lucknow Sentinel at the address indicated here. Advertising is accepted on the condition that in the event of a typographical error, the portion of the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid at the applicable rates. The Sentinel is available on microfilm at: GODERICH LIBRARY, (from 1875) 52 Montreal Street Goderich ON N7A 1 M3 Goderichlibrary@huroncounty.ca KINCARDINE LIBRARY, (from 1875 to 1900 & 1935 to 1959) 727 Queen Street Kincardine ON N2Z 1Z9 We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canadian Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. Canada s)cna Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and the Ontario Community Newspapers Association Our healthcare system is falling short I call it bake sale health care. Your toddler needs out -of -coun- try care to save his sight? Bake 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Your daughter needs specialized surgery in the U.S.? Have your friends put on a bene- fit concert. You can't be sure the latest can- cer drugs will be available to you on OHIP. Milton mom Kimm Fletcher, 41, has brain cancer. Doctors have told her she has only months to live. Her best shot at longer life is the drug Avastin. The problem is OHIP doesn't fund it for her condition — and treatment costs $100,000 a year. The provincial committee that evaluates drugs for OHIP funding said there was "uncertainty" aroundwhetherAvastin improved survival rates for people with Kimm's form of cancer. They also questioned the drug's "cost effective- ness," in Kimm's case. So she was forced to turn to friends and family for help — and help they did. They raised enough money for her first treatment. Kimm came to Queen's Park Oct. 30, when her MPP Ted Chudleigh and Tory health critic Christine Elliott pleaded for funding for her. Health Minister Deb Matthews met briefly with Kimm, but gave her no hope the government would cough up funding. Kimm's case was taken up by the media — and she reports that people have been overwhelm- ingly generous. "People we don't even know have given me $500 or $1,000 anonymously," she reported. "It's meant we don't have to sell our business or Column Christina Blizzard Editor, Lucknow Sentinel home." It sure warms your heart to know that when your government fails you, friends, family, the commu- nity will rally. They haven't lost their sense of decency. They haven't lost their heart. But here's the problem with that. In order to raise awareness of her plight, Kimm had to be very pub- lic about her illness. She had to stand in front of cam- eras as disclose health information that should remain confidential. Kim and her husband had managed to keep the worst part of her condition from her kids. They know she has cancer, but not all the details. Suddenly, her bad news was spilling over the airwaves and her children, Keidon, 9, and Mar- tie, 7, were hearing on the radio that their mom was going to die in two months. "Some of the stuff they've heard wasn't filtered, she said. "When they hear this woman is dying. She's got two months to live — that was hard for them," she said. She has told her husband to turn off the radio and TV when she's on. That's not right. We shouldn't be burdening little children with the cares of the world. Keidon particularly has had problems. "He's taking everything to heart. He's a smart kid and he understands what's going on, but he doesn't want the attention," Kimm told me. His school friends are making bracelets to support her — but Keidon doesn't want it to be about her. He wants it to be about cancer awareness in general. Remember, they gave it all for our freedom Remembrance Day is more important now than ever. In our increasingly digital, social media, reality TV- focused age, it seems hard to get a few minutes of silence to reflect. Let alone enough time to sit down with a good history book and learn about the past. As a society, we're at risk of forgetting our history. In 1945 there were over a million Canadian Second World War veterans. Today there are only around 90,000. We must keep their stories alive and those of all veterans. We must remember the men and women who gave their lives for our freedoms. Nov 11 doesn't do all of this. But it does give us pause, if only for a moment, to remember that this matters People come from all over the world to make Canada their home. We are a stable country where people are free to follow their dreams and exercise their liberties. At times, world events have put this at risk. Since Confederation, Canadian soil has largely been peaceful. But we've had to go abroad to contain other menaces and help other people. Remembrance Day recognizes the role played by veterans in the First World War, Sec- ond World War and the Korean War. It also remembers the sacrifices made by the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan, Egypt, Soma- lia, Rwanda, the Balkans "I the list goes on. Sure, not everyone likes the political climate behind these missions. But that's not what Remembrance Day is about. Sadly, there are people who want to dishon- our this non-partisan occasion. The misguided white poppy campaign argues Remembrance Day promotes war, violence and the militariza- tion of society. Not so. We encourage them to put the white poppy away and simply reflect on the solemn events happening Nov 11. Lives were lost. Families tom apart. All so we could live in freedom. That's something we should all take a moment to recognize. To quote John McCrae's In Flanders Fields: "To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high." Thank you to all of our veterans for your service. We will always hold the torch high for you and make sure future generations of Cana- dians do the same. Lest we forget. In that unique way kids have of cutting to the heart of the matter, Keidon has pretty well defined what's wrong with this awful situation. God knows, fighting cancer is tough enough for anyone. Fighting cancer and then fighting your government in the media makes it twice as bad. Kimm shouldn't be put in a fishbowl because she needs treatment. We pay enough in taxes. This government has piddled enough money down the drain in cancelled gas plants, Omge scandals and eHealth boondoggles to fund eve- ryone like Kimm. Let's not make cancer patients beg anymore. Give them — and their children — their dignity. (You can donate to Kimm at gofundme.com. Sentinel Memoirs ••eN�r '1L ane W. Yi• r41aIaar rnal 'Fr 'k0c� 11111 &tyr. NBVENIFJ.ISR 11ti>r. 11411 EDITORIAL V1:ARTDt OF .t t:t;,%T'crpty 1LI5 rdaSED Tu ° Tr1321W the Y.+a1I annixeiiory 9d Llic Mgning oi: 11Nc bELning lo ti a'fiile 1.42 7rah• nl dtli.rurtinn rind bI u Filiii1 •b� eh the the u:ar• m!8bp°r-x pi fIrrnnwny OREM !Ph - 'nth y tray minim Lrrmmn hnawn o! lisp Ilyternairkiicn War, .este rJirc i L. meircrlY hrsminL *MOO Csrnarla whero, uiuw:saLly, ILLVAC JI ran CoiFlad 'memory of L7rne saa. nulbands iio3 b®athaort who paid tint aupresm utcrif g nLafler ata re i1uzy rejo, to `send wen for all Today Ronitmbrruiru Dray Lag Ll]uLr ISO IrICU11110 flgfr-ulaia. aur Lhr i i, =d tih: Lal. nt 21,1=1. )3141'anrlr, brnthprz, szliz. rare: aDtin CL' 111i LSLi livt..5 in •lelrlirn nl thu ilrredom we etainy +''3 irl'hirh, LIE kin i?PC 71197IL IL'ia•e3Lt'm. d. by lhn rsani rutitil sa. unliktari.tir-ml_,ck'1 Or nn `t The 9rr. °3° ata straw f WuiW. war 1; ▪ rulSrorecl and liner; -moi rn h ovary ii 115th' llse as tlrit Lang merle m Cram Ix. srnL co.nfIkL .A the .a'•swltt nt fti nirrlirierai+C at yh. c>nuLayai Ir. I --u vL1IcCe an Sunday ,toad. ptrrmis, bowraL art rarrow° alis ]Chow 7Ia� anznjilard cans Im1L In lite . r.'ika id heir etiwn7r' in bush:heir Baer- May w;.,. rDlulria.lift CXrri.rl 01 Lbe poiee Itzable ea that ;w•ent,v-ilve. yeore lurw.x onoLrtr e a ;11 ri o)die Lloaorr od jnurlb,rs miimita r.d rnr±w.xukringossll nut b eairitle,irL Cu ilia w ade ed War Auk may we worn- ptimi e t, remana•rate'. VI'd611 lite !MI5 Lucknow Sentinel Remembrance Day Editorial: 1943 Pictured is a clipping of an editorial from the Nov. 11 edition of the 1943 Lucknow Sentinel.