A Wish for Gabbie by Mariam Ahmad

A family in Waterloo has just one wish – to cure their three-year-old daughter’s disease. Cystinosis is a rare genetic disorder that affects about fifty people - mostly children – in Canada and approximately two thousand worldwide. Mariam Ahmad went to Waterloo to find out more.

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Piggy in a Blanket by Bethany Cairns

Piggy is a 150lb North American pot bellied pig who enjoys cashmere blankets, and the occasional beer and pizza. Pigs are illegal in Toronto, but that hasn’t stopped Piggy from living a secret life of domestic bliss. His owner spoke to us about what it’s like to own - and take care of - a pig in the city.

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For girls, boxing is often overlooked because of its violent nature. Women’s boxing was given a boost last year when it was granted a spot in the 2012 summer Olympics. But you still won’t find many young girls in boxing gyms in Canada. Well one Londoner is trying to change that by fighting to be a leader, and attract more girls to the sport.

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Finding out your child is sick is hard to deal with. And finding out they have cancer is even tougher. In Canada, one in six hundred children are affected by cancer. A quarter of those children have a central nervous system tumour. Children who survive this type of tumour are subject to relapses, life altering disabilities and late effects. One London girl has been beating the odds after battling three brain tumours since she was nine years old. Stephanie Simmons and her parents, Renee and Dean, share their story with Alix Matthews-Mahé.

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The staff in the palliative care unit at Parkwood Hospital in London Ontario provides patients with comfort and care. At the hospital Jill Kennedy-Tufts is the music therapist. She helps palliative care patients who are interested in creating legacy projects for their friends or family.
 

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On the third floor of McCormick Home, a nursing care facility in London Ontario, Thursdays are special. Every week Susan Richardson, a registered art therapist, leads them in making paintings, collages, and other works of art. Being creative, she says, helps seniors deal with the many challenges they face as then enter their final years.

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Soy is a multibillion dollar industry in South Western Ontario. In 2006, farmers received 680 million dollars from sales of the crop. And you don’t just see it in your tofu stir fry: soy can be found in all sort of surprising products and places. And the man who helped bring this industry to Ontario in the seventies is still teaching at the University of Guelph. Ed von Aderkas has more.
 

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