Castlegar News 20, 1991 CASNEWS WEEKEND FEATURE Scott challenges his dad, Peter, to a game of Nintendo golf while he's not chaileng- Ing him on the real course. Mom, Sherry, and sister, Lisa, Join in to make the game a family affair. wo years ago Castlegar real estate: agent Peter Blackwell would probably never have gone golfing with his son, Scott. But a lot has changed since then for the Blackwell family, the most significant being that the family is still all together. Scott, now almost 15, contracted hemolytic uremic syndrome — a sometimes fatal compli- cation of what is commonly known as hamburg- er disease — in the spring of 1989. It nearly killed him. Scott’s mother, Sherry, remembers doctors at the B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver telling her they couldn’t guarantee Scott would be going home, ever. ~- “Tm taking him home,” she recalls telling them. And three hospitals, two blood tr one surgery, and a failed kidney later, ner did go home. In time his yellowed eyes returned to nor- mal, his headaches lessened in severity and fre- quency, the vomiting ceased and he regained a little of the 9.9 kilograms, or one-third of his body weight, he’d lost. Scott says the thing he remembers most about the ordeal was being in the hospital for two weeks. “That was so boring,” he says. “I was in isola- tion for a week and a half.” And after a little more thought, he sums up his experience, with his usual dose of sarcasm, as “Just the nicest summer I ever had.” ut despite his faded memories of RB that time, Scott hasn’t been allowed to forget the ordeal completely. Some of the effects still lingering. “He has the bone structure of a 12-and-a-half year old,” Sherry says. This week Scott stood 1.4 metres tall and weighed 35 kilograms, despite a prescribed diet of 4,000 calories a day. “So he’s grown six months in two years.” And from an armchair that suddenly appears oversized, Scott adds, “Yeah, look at me. I mean I’m getting my driver’s licence next year.” He still makes regular trips to the Children’s Hospital for tests that, among other things, probe and prod for an explanation to Scott’s lack of growth. And, as if verifying the need for an explana- tion, Scott tells of being in a Vancouver restau- rant with a friend, who at three months younger than Scott towers over him by about half a metre, and his sister, Lisa, almost three years his junior. “They brought me a menu with bugs bunny Disease changes family's lifestyle on it and crayons,” he recalls with a sheepish in. Being smaller than his peers, while admit- tedly, he says, “a pain in the rear” for him, also raises a whole new set of concerns for the fami- ly. “Emotionally it's really hard for him to deal with,” Sherry says. “He’s so small ... kids are really mean. We’ve actually had an awful lot of trouble this year. “And because he’s small, and Scott tends to use his mouth, he says things before he thinks. But that’s been his only defence. We had to pull him out of school; he got beat up, quite bad. It’s really been a hard year, actually for all of us.” cott has also had to battle every virus that comes around, and most times he loses, Sherry said. “He's been sick a lot this last year — cold after cold, sore throats.... His blood is still working to recover. His coloring is better but not as good as it was before.” Scott’s other battles are the normal family battles that come between siblings in their ear- ly teens and a family that Spends a lot of time together. “T love to argue,” admits Scott, who has designs on getting paid to do that, or on a lesser scale, negotiate — he hopes to be a lawyer, or a “real estate man” like his father.. Sherry, with a roll of her eyes and a know- ing smile, agrees. “Scott has a very logical mind,” she says. That knowing smile, Scott and Sherry’s straightforward way of talking to each other — between debates on who’s right — and the pri- orities the Blackwell family lives by are the more positive lingering effects of the disease. “One thing we learned is that the kids may not be here tomorrow,” Sherry says. “We take more time now for the kids.” he best example of that, Scott says, was the family’s one-week trip to Dis- neyland earlier this month. “We'd probably never have made time for that before,” Sherry says. Other testimonies to the family’s closeness can be found on the golf course, where Peter takes his son even though he doesn’t much care for the sport, at the lake on a nice summer day after they've dropped whatever they were doing, and over a pile of books where a tutor helps Scott to overcome his difficulties with school. “We just decided he comes first. He'll be tutored all summer. He just comes first, and that’s all there is to it,” Sherry said. A romp through the tree house is all it takes for Scott to show his true colors. One of Scott's favorite places to be is the treehouse he and a group of friends built. And while the location Is top secret, Scott still welcomes his mom to come along on occa: 7 Stories and Photos By Donna Zuber Warm weather cooking creates health hazards Scott Blackwell of Castlegar | was one "And | never use the same plate for sed for raw meat,” of 18 ple in the Ci Health Unit area in 1989 to have his life es by a poorly cooked piece of s And now, at the height of barbecue season, people are most vulnerable to what is commonly referred to as ham- burger disease — an iliness triggered by the E. coli bacteria. she said, explaining that the drippings _ from raw meat could contaminate the cooked meat. “That's something we sure never thought of before.” In British Columbia, as many as 400 cases of hamburger disease are report- ed and it's believed that many thousands of other, less severe cases, The problem is worse in partly because meat can't always be kept cool during transport, says Mike Harnadek, chief envir officer at the health unit. At room temperature, E. coli doubles in number every 20 minutes. And dur- ing barbecue season, most people aren't always as careful handling meat, Harnadek said. The bacteria flourishes when meat is Caeaee cok and is most often found in beef b it spreads as the h lead Is by diarr vomiting, abdominal cramps and a mild fever. The symptoms, which can start any time between two week after eating contaminated |. typically last between five and 10 days, Hardenek sa ‘rom the di Scott Ih di a ps that Is fatal for the five to 10 per cent of those who contract it. As Is typical for HUS victims, Black- well's iliness was marked by severe “e coli has been found in most ani- mals used as food, including beef, pork and poultry products. The best p infecti from E. coll ‘bacteria and caer bacteria (such as sal Disa of thorough cooking and safe food prepa- ration: © Refrigerate or freeze meats as soon as possible after buying; ¢ Thaw meats in the fridge, not at room temperature, and place it on a bottom shelf, where there's no chance of its juices dripping on to other foods; ¢ Wash your hands thoroughly before preparing food, after handling raw meat and after using the toilet; * Either cook hamburger patties right away, or put them in the refrigerator — don't let raw meat sit at room tempera- ture; * Store uncooked patties in a single layer in the fridge — don't stack them, or the middie ones won't get cool for hours. . ¢ Wash all utensils, cutting boards and counters with hot, soapy water to stools and urine, and failed Pp b ria from raw meats other HUS is rticularly dangerous to 7 When pipcaisbeae scrub the grill particularly ‘and 4 young children and the “We cook a lot lot differently now,” says fg Py rarely cook ha on cue, and we make them thinner. clean well to . was all meats thoroughly a ee brown, not pink, and po ney oa a REAL TROOPERS Ten boys from the 2nd Castlegar Scout Troop packed up the cruiser then hit the road this week head- ed for the Provincial Jamboree which begins today at Camp Hughes on West Lake near Prince George. The Castlegar troop will join 3,000 other boys and leaders from across the province at the week-long event. PNE president touts new vision of fair By CasNews Staff Pacific The president of the National Exhibition was in Castlegar last rt his pro’ annual exhibition in Vancou- ver as an event for the whole province. “We have a provincial fair and our mandate is one of including all parts of the province,” Morgan Thomas said in an interview with the Castlegar News. “Perhaps in the past we haven't done very wellin that rd.” ‘Thomas, a rancher who spent 35 years between Arm- strong and Vernon, says he’s the first PNE, president from the Interior. | “I just happen to believe that there’s an assét there for all British Columbians. I call Vancouver downtown British Columbia, and theére’s a launching pad there for your my ty and other communities to happen. “The Pacific National Exhi- bition will provide that launching pad — you come vince" mote hie new vision of the” down and you show us what you're good at doing and there’s got to be some spinoffs from that.” ee ver drawa about 3.5 ‘million tourists annually, he said, almost half of whom vis- it during the PNE. Drawing on his Interior roots, Thomas has been work- ing for almost two years on prog to attract i ties from outside the Lower Mainland into exhibition activities. Among those programs are the Youth Talent Contest, in which Miss Castlegar Kirstin Mason will compete; the ‘recy- cling contest in which mayors submit a summary of what their communities are doing about the environment; the promotion where commu- nities send a flag or banner to be showcased in downtown Vancouver; the songwriter’s contest; the creative crafts rel and the Miss PNE con- tits the urban and rural connection,” Thomas says. The PNE runs from Aug. 16 to Sept. 2. Hall continued from front page Williams said Thursday. “We're not pushed for time,” he said, noting that fire halls are essentially big warehouses and are easy to build. Among Harker's other recom- mendations: * Maintain accurate records of response times. * Limit repair-expenses on the city’s 196Z.and 1968 appara- tus’ and retire the 24-year-old equipment after a new hall is constructed. * Expand and upgrade the water supply system. * Encourage personnel to attend more than one training session per month. * Expand data input to the computer for ease of access and improve accuracy. * Provide a computer system for the fire department, * Maintain a record of build- ing fire alarm systems requiring notification of the fire depart- ment. FOR SUBSCRIPTION INFO PHONE 365-7266 Bridge continued from front and the provincial fisheries branch of the Environment Min- istry. are giving the chosen site the once over to make sure the new bridge doesn't mt satan the Columbia River fishery. He said design of the bridge will begin immediately with a completion date expected some: time in the fall of 1993. The starting date of construction is not set. "That will depend on how quickly talks go with the federal and provincial fisheries,” Dirks said, adding that the project must then go through the ten- dering process before the gov- ernment chooses a contractor for the work. Dirks said he's happy with the chosen site. "I think it will do the trick very nicely, taking truck traffic off Columbia Avenue,” he said, “It will really provide good access to not only the pulp mill but also the sawmill. “It will tie in Robson again back with Castlegar which has been a bone of contention,” he said. Ken Wyllie, the Regional Dis- trict of Central Kootenay direc- ter for Area J, which includes Robson, said the chosen location “by far will have a greatly reduced impact on Robson than other alternatives, although it might have some impact on Castlegar.” The new bridge will reunite Robson and Castlegar “in terms of traditional traffic patterns,” Wyllie said. In the meantime, Eastman said the ministry will get to work on the final design details — which is expected to take eight months to a year to com- plete — and meet with the home and property owners who will be affected by the bridge. "I use the words ‘who we think are affected’ remembering that different people have differ- ent ideas as to whether or not they're affected,” Eastman said. “There will be some people whose land we don't need to pur- chase to build the roads and the bridge, but we might feel that they are sufficiently affected that we'll talk to them. “And there may be other peo- ple who we don't consider affect- ed who ultimately will say ‘I'm affected’ and we'll have to go back and talk to them later.” Either way, Eastman said the ministry hopes to avoid expro- Priating property and is opti- mistic that agreements can be reached, “just like any other people that buy and sell land.” “We only expropriate if we absolutely have to. If we are unable to come to an agreement that is satisfactory to both sides, then the law does give us certain powers whereby we can obtain the land, and an independent third party through the expro- Priation committee will decide the value,” he said. “But we would hope we wouldn't have to do that.” CHAMBER LUNCHEON Thurs., July 25 12:00 noon-1:00 p.m. Sandman Inn Cost: $8.00 GUEST SPEAKER: Ray Howard, President of Colville Chamber of Commerce CALL 365-6313 TO RESERVE CHAMBER LUNCHEONS ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC FOR ALL REFORM PARTY MEMBERS KOOTENAY WEST/REVELSTOKE RIDING AND POTENTIAL MEMBERS An old fashioned family picnic will be held _ Sunday, July 28 10 a.m.-10 p.m. at the picnic area K SUNDAY NIGHT ite Lic. No. Early Bird 6:00 p.m. SUNDAY ~ July 21 60% PAYOUT Creek Provincial Park — Bring your own lunch. Tables and BBQ's available. Free ice cream. Swimming, Kid's-races etc. MEMBERSHIPS AVAILABLE FOR INFORMATION PHONE 229-4230 by C. Rebels Hockey Association) COMMUNITY Evening CHRISTMAS CRAFT FAIR Your Castlegar SAFEWAY ‘Proud to be ‘your favorite Food Store * QUALITY MEATS « CHICKEN COOKED LEGS PRAWNS “ae 10 for 98. 2°° ¢ PROUD OF OUR DELI Overlander MEAT Pastrami LOAF or Burns Vintage Ham BAVARIAN Sliced or shaved. 100 g. 100 g. 1*° .89 e FRESH BAKED BUNS Blueberry Multi-Grains Tarts 12 for 1” .99. ¢ SUMMER FRESH PRODUCE « BLUE- CAULI- BERRIES FLOWER Fresh. 5 tb. case Fresh. B.C: Grown No. 1 B.C. Grown. No.-1 2” 49. * GROCERY SAVINGS « 7-UP OR ICE PEPSI CREAM Reg. or diet. 355 mL Plus Deposit atortea ¥ Fevers 4L 6 / 1 98 2° FLAKED KRAFT In water. Sea Trader. 184 gm. 88. 2”. November 8 and 9, Castlegar Community Complex. Sponsor: y Creek Recreation Commission. info.: L. Gallo, 365-3878, R. Cook 365-3057. 2/57 2ND ANNUAL CHRISTMAS IN JULY Saturday, July 27, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Robson Community Hall tanen by, Femeen . Door prizes. No weicome C RESTAURANT ) a Deadiines are 5 p.m. ok ae eee ne is half-price insertions are only hall price for the two of them. Minimum charge is $5 tenetner ad is for one, two or three times). ‘Wednesdays for pages deh oy andl