SIGNAL TRIBUNE Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Los Cerritos, Wrigley and Signal Hill with 30,000 issues every Friday
VOL. XLI NO. 2
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
In this issue
www.signaltribune.com
‘I’m not dying; I’m thriving’
COMMUNITY
January 4, 2019
Ray of hope shines from loss of Alzheimer’s victim
Nancy Paulikas, an Alzheimer’s sufferer, has died, but LA Found helps people like her who go missing. Anita W. Harris
Port of LB app gives inside look into construction, traffic updates for new Gerald Desmond Bridge
LB Bridge interface allows for ‘modern’ insight into development, which is slated for late 2019 completion. Page 3
Staff Writer
Denny Cristales | Signal Tribune
Edouard Knighton, director of fundraising for the Signal Hill nonprofit Cancer Concierge Network (CCN), was diagnosed with cancer in December 2016. Although treatment is ongoing, Knighton said that his massage-therapy and counseling work for cancer patients at CCN, in addition to leading an active and healthy lifestyle, has allowed him to “thrive.”
Cancer nonprofit provides alternative methods to put ‘ease’ for those suffering from ‘disease’ Edouard Knighton, fellow CCN members claim that spiritual and physical remedies can make all the difference for cancer patients. Denny Cristales
Ringing in the start of the new year, baby! Long Beach residents Karen Ouk and Jonathan Pong welcomed their baby boy Jan. 1 at 6:51am, marking the first birth of the year at Dignity Health – St. Mary Medical Center. Page 6
NEWS Long Beach health officer lifts closure on coastal beaches following December sewage spill
The spill, emanating from the Glendale area, led to the contamination of multiple beaches, officials told the Signal Tribune. Page 6
Managing Editor
C
ancer is not a death sentence, according to a Signal Hill nonprofit organization that seeks to provide a network of support and healing for those affected by the disease. Local resident Edouard Knighton is a living testament to the Cancer Concierge Network’s (CCN) mantra of using mind, body and spirit to lead to prosperity. In an interview Dec. 28, Knighton, CCN’s director of fundraising, spoke to the Signal Tribune about his cancer diagnosis two years ago. Discovering that melanoma had developed on top of his head in December 2016, and that treatments were harsh, he learned of CCN from an acquaintance and sought out its members for support. He said the institution has reinforced his well-being and allowed him to think positively about his skin-cancer detection. “My message is that, although I have a diagnosis of cancer, I’m
a survivor,” he said. “And I am thriving, even though I have this disease. You can get a label or a diagnosis, and it is terrifying. [...] It’s such a scary thing, because it’s fatal. There’s still so much unknown about cancer, and treatments, as well, can be very scary. That’s my message. It’s not, ‘Poor, poor me.’ It’s not anything like that. I’d just like people to know who are recently diagnosed and who are struggling and who are caregivers that we offer support here.” CCN, 1965 E. 21st St., offers monthly meetings, or retreats, at its site for cancer patients. Every meeting– the next of which is Jan. 12– has guest speakers that discuss principles of faith and support. CCN members, such as Knighton, also offer services like massages and counseling. “The retreat is really an amazing experience to see the transformation of people who are downtrodden and depressed,” Knighton said. “[...] It just brings out the best in people.” CCN’s intent is to develop a network of providers who give medical
attention to cancer patients in ways that deviate from conventional medicine. For instance, members use methods involving counseling, dietary consultations and acupuncture– resources that serve to strengthen the mind, Knighton said. He said traditional treatments, specifically chemotherapy and radiation, are the best conventional methods for cancer patients based on modern medical advancements, but they are “harsh on the body.” Knighton said he advocates “replenishing the poison being put into your body” by reinforcing the “mind, body, soul connection.” “The reason you have cancer is because you have an imbalance,” he said. “If we can break up that word: Dis-ease. Not at ease. That’s what’s happened with individuals who are sick. We’re bringing the mind, spirit and body back into balance here. So much research has been done on the mental aspects of your health. That’s why we have the holistic modalities. We’re not just looking at symptoms; we’re looking at the see NETWORK page 8
The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner (DMEC) confirmed last week that Nancy Paulikas– a 55-year-old woman with early-onset Alzheimer’s who had gone missing in October 2016 while visiting a museum with her husband– has died. According to the coroner’s office, Paulikas’s body had burned in a March 11, 2017, fire in Sherman Oaks, miles from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art where her husband, Kirk Moody, had taken her on Oct. 16, 2016. She had become separated from him after visiting a restroom in the museum. “I heard from the police today that they have identified a skull and some ribs as positively matching Nancy’s DNA,” Moody posted on his social-media site ‘Nancy is Missing’ on Dec. 26. Moody and Paulikas’s parents, George and Joan Paulikas, had kept up hope that Nancy would return, increasing a reward for finding her as recently as October 2018, two years after her disappearance. Just two months later, on Dec. 27, the coroner’s office reported that investigators had gone to Fossil Ridge Park in Sherman Oaks on March 11, 2017, to study a skull discovered by firefighters. The investigators sent a sample to the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) for DNA analysis in April 2017. Coroner investigators then found bones on Sept. 13, 2018, near the same area of the park where the skull was discovered, and sent those samples for DNA analysis, as well. “On Dec. 26, 2018, CA DOJ notified DMEC that the remains […] belonged to the same decedent and that the person matched Paulikas’s DNA,” the coroner’s report states. “The cause and manner of her death remain undetermined.” see PAULIKAS page 2