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A star basketball player’s life is turned upside down
Site selected for south side library
Kuma Woman struggles to
120 YEARS YOUR COMMUNITY
NEWSPAPER
1891-2011
save her dog
Y O U R C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R • F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 1 • W W W. T H E P R O G R E S S . C O M • T U E S D AY, J U N E 2 1 , 2 0 1 1
Riots ruin good deed for Chilliwack woman Vikki Hopes Black Press A local woman was among the victims of the riot following the Vancouver Canucks’ Stanley Cup loss to the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night, adding more distress to a life already filled with challenges. Crystal Ratvay, 30, has been suffering with posttraumatic migraine disorder since 2005, when the car in which she was a passenger smashed into a power pole. The pain became so debilitating that she dropped out of college, lost her job in a bank and moved back home with her parents in Abbotsford. Three months ago, Crystal decided she would forge ahead, despite her setbacks. She moved to Chilliwack and enrolled in school again. In April, her car broke down. It would cost more than $2,500 to fix, far beyond what Crystal could afford. On Wednesday, something good happened. An aunt, who lives in Port Coquitlam, said Crystal could have her old car. It was a red 1990 Chevy Cavalier, still in good running order. Crystal’s good friend, Michael, lives in an apartment in Vancouver and she made plans to watch the final Stanley Cup game with him. Continued: RIOT/ p9
Crystal Ratvay’s vehicle after the riot.
Eight flagbearers, including Betty Fox (in white at left) carried the Olympic flag into BC Place during the Opening Ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Games. Fox, mother to the late Terry Fox, died in Chilliwack on Friday. JENNA HAUCK/BLACK PRESS
Chilliwack mourns loss of Betty Fox Katie Bartel The Progress To many she was a hero, but to herself, she was just an “ordinary” woman fulfilling her son’s last wish. Canadian icon and cancer crusader Betty Fox, mother of the late Terry Fox, passed away Friday morning. “It is with considerable sadness that we share that our wife, mother and grandmother died at 8:25 a.m. [Friday] morning,” the Fox family wrote in a statement released on the Terry Fox Foundation website. The family did not disclose details of her illness. News that Betty was ill first came out two weeks ago when media reports speculated she had cancer and was living in Chilliwack Hospice. In a statement at the time, the family said reports of can-
cer were incorrect, but did confirm she was seriously ill. Her death is a huge loss, said Margaret Kostrzewa, a member of the Chilliwack Terry Fox Run Committee. “What other person can you honestly say has touched the world the way she has?” said Kostrzewa, who had to choke back tears. “She will always be in our hearts ... we will miss her dearly.” The course of Betty’s life changed dramatically when, in 1977, Terry’s leg was amputated due to osteogenic sarcoma. She supported Terry through his Marathon of Hope, following every step of the 143-day run. And after his death in 1981, Betty took on her son’s mission with just as much determination. For more than 30 years Betty was the fireball behind the Terry Fox Run and later the Terry Fox Foundation. She
quit her job, traveled the world, listened to stories, shed tears, shaved her head, spoke to more than 400,000 school children alone – all in the name of her son. “I knew what Terry started was important,” Betty told The Progress last September for the 30th anniversary of the Terry Fox Run. “I don’t want anyone to think this has changed my life. What I have done has been for my son and because I have believed in his cause.” Former Chilliwack mayor Clint Hames, who raised the Terry Fox flag at City Hall nine times with the Fox family at his side, couldn’t imagine carrying on the way Betty and husband Rolly had after losing their child. “Not only did they carry on, they picked up the challenge he laid down and were at the forefront of a movement which endures stronger today than Continued: FOX/ p3
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