Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Readers Digest Canada - June - 2021
Readers Digest Canada - June - 2021
PAGE 56
BUTTER
TARTS: CANADA’S JUNE 2021
A Sticky MOST-READ
History MAGAZINE
PAGE 66
The Allergy
13 SILENT SIGNS of Risks of
Essential Oils
DEMENTIA
(AND HOW TO SPOT THEM EARLY )
PAGE 27
Two Ducks,
One Happy
PAGE 30 Family
PAGE 42
MY BEST
FRIEND’S
DARK
SECRET PAGE 86
Why
Grandma
Got a Tattoo
PAGE 82
$4.95 CANADA
Too Busy?
Here’s Your
Escape Plan
PAGE 70
When you make Natural Calm
magnesium a part of your
daily routine, you’re not only
changing your life for the
better, you’re helping change
thousands more.
100% of profits are donated to:
naturalcalm.ca • thriveforgood.org
(ON THE COVER) SEAN PRIOR/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO; (THIS PAGE) ROGER LeMOYNE
reader’s digest
CONTENTS
Features 42 56
heart health
30
cover story
Ping and Gaston
Fostering a pair of duck-
lings brought new joy to
10 Life-Saving
Innovations Coming to
a Hospital Near You
DEMENTIA our home—until I dis- How health-care work-
WARNING SIGNS covered what awaited ers and institutions are
A guide to 13 symptoms them back at the farm. revolutionizing surgery,
you should never BY OLIVIA STREN patient care, cancer
ignore. treatment—and more.
BY MARK WITTEN 48 BY LAUREN McGILL
74
Two friends dove into
the underwater tunnel.
Only one came out.
BY CHRISTOPHER MATTHEWS
rd.ca 1
reader’s digest
66 70 74
history life lesson society
National Treasure The Power of No Bearing Witness
A closer look at the How does helping In his latest assignment
butter tart, from its fas- someone out take for UNICEF, photogra-
cinating origins to its over your entire life? pher Roger LeMoyne
status as Canada’s most Why it’s okay to turn captures the resilience
famous dessert. down favours. and determination of
BY EMMA WAVERMAN BY LEAH RUMACK people displaced by
FROM COTTAGE LIFE
ethnic conflict in the
Democratic Republic
of the Congo.
BY GARY STEPHEN ROSS
82
heart
Golden Years
My mom’s 80th birth-
day tattoo is just the
latest example of her
86
editors’ choice
Catching Up
I hadn’t seen my child-
hood best friend in 20
years. Would we finally
talk about that terrible
night from so long ago?
BY CATHRIN BRADBURY
FROM THE BRIGHT SIDE
JAIME HOGGE
Departments
Humour
(ILLUSTRATION) JARETT SITTER; (L’ABBÉ) LAUREN TAMAKI
4 Editor’s Letter 41
Life’s Like That
6 Contributors
7 Letters 55
Laughter, the Best
20 Points to Ponder Medicine
big idea
8 Group Effort 64
As Kids See It
A mentorship
program that 81
helps vulnerable Word Play
youth succeed.
BY RAIZEL ROBIN 18
good news medical mystery
22 15 Five Reasons
to Smile
BY ALI AMAD
27 Something
in the Air
If it wasn’t bed bugs
or allergies, why
ask an expert
was she waking
18 Can I Learn to
up with her eyes
Like Poetry?
swollen shut?
We quiz poet
BY LISA BENDALL
and professor
Sonnet L’Abbé. reader’s digest
book club
BY MICAH TOUB
96 The Creep
health Every month we
22 Fire in the Belly recommend a new
More stress brings must-read book.
more heartburn, BY EMILY LANDAU
but there are easy 98 Brainteasers
ways to beat it.
BY VIVIANE FAIRBANK
100 Trivia
101 Word Power
24 News From the
World of Medicine 103 Sudoku
BY SAMANTHA RIDEOUT 104 Crossword
rd.ca 3
reader’s digest
W
e’ve always had a dog in the and if you wanted a dog from a breeder
house. Our last one, Charlie, you had to get onto a long waiting list.
was a mystery mix and too We were about to give up when we
clever for his own good. He’d open heard about a litter of Labrador-
doorknobs with his mouth. He’d snatch Bernese pups on a dairy farm three
bread off a counter if you blinked. One hours north. Our new dog started off
January, a neighbour called me at work very wiggly and cute but grew very
to ask if I knew that Charlie had big very fast. We called him Ripley
unlocked a second-floor window and because he ripped everything in sight
was dancing on our icy porch roof, with his sharp puppy teeth. Nine
barking at the mailman. months later, he’s snatching bread off
Charlie died in 2017, after 16 hijinks- the counter and we couldn’t be happier.
filled years. By the end, he was so Did you adopt a pet during the pan-
arthritic that he had trouble getting demic? Please send me an email
out of his bed, but he still made the at [email protected] and tell me all
effort to meet me at the door. It felt about your new housemate and
wrong to replace him. how they changed your life. We’ll
The events of 2020 changed my include our favourite stories in
mind. A new dog promised an upcoming issue of
pure joy in a bleak time. Plus, Reader’s Digest.
several studies have shown
that pets help us cope better
with all kinds of stresses. The
DANIEL EHRENWORTH
4 june 2021
P U B L I S H E D B Y T H E R E A D E R ’ S D I G E S T M A G A Z I N E S C A N A D A L I M I T E D, M O N T R E A L , C A N A D A
VOL. 198, NO. 1,180 Copyright © 2021 by Reader’s Digest Magazines We acknowledge
Canada Limited. Reproduction in any manner in whole or in part in English or with gratitude the
other languages prohibited. All rights reserved throughout the world. Protection financial support of
secured under International and Pan-American copyright conventions. the Government of Canada. / Nous remercions le
Publications Mail Agreement No. 40070677. Postage paid at Montreal. Return Gouvernement du Canada pour son appui financier.
undeliverable Canadian addresses to 5101 Buchan St., suite 300, Montreal, QC
H4P 1S4.
Print subscriptions, $34.50 a year, plus $8.99 postage, processing and hand-
ling. Please add applicable taxes. Outside Canada, $53.96 yearly, including
postage, processing and handling. (Prices and postage subject to change Reader’s Digest publishes 10 issues per year and may
without notice.) ISSN 0034-0413. Indexed by the Canadian Periodical Index. occasionally publish special issues (special issues count as
Single issue: $4.95. two)‚ subject to change without notice.
rd.ca 5
reader’s digest
CONTRIBUTORS
MARK WITTEN OLIVIA STREN
Writer, Toronto Writer, Toronto
“Dementia Warning “Ping & Gaston”
Signs”
Stren is a National
Witten’s stories have appeared in The Magazine Award-nominated free-
Walrus, Toronto Life, Canadian Living lance writer who has been published
and Today’s Parent. His health and in Elle, Toronto Star, Marie Claire
science reporting has received numer- Australia and Fashion magazine. She
ous industry accolades, including specializes in style, culture, travel and
prizes from the Science Writers and personal essays about parenting. In
Communicators of Canada and the her career, Stren has interviewed the
Canadian Nurses Association. Check likes of Jane Fonda, Oscar de la Renta
out his latest story, about overlooked and Martin Short, among others.
dementia symptoms, on page 30. Read her story on page 42.
6 june 2021
TURN DOWN THE VOLUME
LETTERS “Shhhhh...” (March 2021) reminded
me of when Highway 407 was being
planned in the Whitevale area of Pick-
ering, Ont., in the 1980s. Residents
were concerned about traffic noise,
so planners used quieter asphalt—not
concrete—to surface a four-kilometre
stretch of the highway, along with an
earth berm to partially block out tire
noise. I later asked one of the locals
about the 407, and they told me they
didn’t notice any added noise at all!
— RON BROWNSBERGER,
Whitchurch-Stouffville, Ont.
HOME DELIVERY
I was delighted to see my old high FINAL MOMENTS
school friend Liz MacInnis on the I was moved to tears by the line “I think
cover of the March 2021 issue. She he was waiting until you got back” in
deserves to be commended for her vol- “Horse of a Different Colour” (October
unteer work at Red Cedar Café, a non- 2020). It made me think of my mom’s
profit that prepares and delivers free passing several years ago. My wife and
food to people in need across Victoria. I made the drive from Edmonton to
They help seniors, people with or her nursing home in Prince George,
PUBLISHED LETTERS ARE EDITED FOR LENGTH AND CLARITY
CONTRIBUTE
Send us your funny jokes and anecdotes, and if we publish one in a print FOR SERVICE TO SUBSCRIBERS Pay your bill, view your account
edition of Reader’s Digest, we’ll send you $50. To submit, visit rd.ca/joke. online, change your address and browse our FAQs at rd.ca/contact.
Original contributions (text and photos) become the property of The MAIL PREFERENCE Reader’s Digest maintains a record of your
Reader’s Digest Magazines Canada Limited, and its affiliates, upon purchase and sweepstakes participation history for Customer Ser-
publication. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity, and vice and Marketing departments, which enables us to offer the
may be reproduced in all print and electronic media. Receipt of best service possible along with quality products we believe will
your submission cannot be acknowledged. interest you. Occasionally, to allow our customers to be aware of
other products and services that may be of interest to them, we
CONTACT US provide this information to other companies. Should you wish, for
CUSTOMER SERVICE [email protected] any reason, not to receive such offers from other companies,
Reader’s Digest Customer Care Centre, P.O. Box 970 Station Main, please write to: Privacy Office, Reader’s Digest, 5101 Buchan St.,
Markham, ON L3P 0K2 suite 300, Montreal, QC H4P 1S4. You may also write to this
address if you no longer wish to receive offers from Reader’s Digest
CONTACT THE EDITORS Have something to say about an article or should you have any questions regarding your record or wish to
in Reader’s Digest? Send your letters to [email protected] examine or correct it.
rd.ca 7
reader’s digest
BIG IDEA
Group Effort
BY Raizel Robin
photograph by brianna roye
M
USTAFA EL AMIN knows about drugs—sometimes clearing $20,000 a
overcoming barriers—and month—he decided to try it himself. In
how finding a good mentor 2000, he was arrested and sentenced
can help. At age six, he fled Sudan as to a year in juvenile detention.
a refugee with his parents and four “I realized that for my whole child-
siblings. His family settled in London, hood, I had been in survival mode,” El
Ont., in 1992. They struggled to make Amin says. He wanted a different life.
ends meet and his parents’ marriage Upon release, he married his girl-
crumbled. El Amin’s father returned to friend. He had little guidance for how
Sudan in 1996, and his mother did the to move forward, but one thing was
same two years later. El Amin, then 14 certain: he was never going back. He
years old, was left to fend for himself. got jobs in construction and, in 2008,
He bounced between an older he and his wife had their first child,
brother’s house and friends’ homes, a daughter. His resolve to change
but nothing seemed to work out. He strengthened. “I wasn’t parented. I
often ate at a local shelter. When he couldn’t do that to my daughter,” he
saw other kids making money selling says. “I couldn’t not be there.”
8 june 2021
Mustafa El Amin
in one of the
Toronto spaces
he uses to hold
workshops for
aspiring artists
and musicians.
reader’s digest
Around that time, he read Midnight: that provided $70,000 annually in seed
A Gangster Love Story, by Sister Soul- money to help fund MyStand activities.
jah—a coming-of-age tale about a “We ask the youth in our programs,
Sudanese refugee in Brooklyn. El Amin where are they at? Where do they want
emailed the author, who became a to go? Then we create a life plan,” says
mentor. Souljah helped El Amin see El Amin, “to do whatever they dream of.
how homelessness, incarceration and It could be going back to college, getting
war gave him strength. a job.” The next step is to build specific
activities and schedules to make sure
they can achieve the goals they’ve set.
“WE ASK YOUTH WHAT Some have gone on to work in the
THEY WANT AND THEN music and film industries. And when
CREATE A LIFE PLAN they encounter barriers like El Amin did
as a teen—low self-esteem, feeling they
TO DO WHATEVER don’t belong—MyStand helps them
THEY DREAM.” find a healthy way through it.
Some of the first participants have
become mentors themselves. Christo-
El Amin wanted to do the same for pher Ambanza credits MyStand for
youth who face similar troubles. In helping him after he was released from
2014, he began working at Youth the Toronto South Detention Centre in
Action Network, eventually becoming 2017. Through workshops and mentor-
managing director. Soon after, he ship, he learned film editing skills.
launched MyStand, a Toronto non- Ambanza now wants to tell the story of
profit for disadvantaged youth. It has his neighbourhood, focusing on its
since provided mentorship to 300 strong sense of community and cultural
racialized youth in the Greater Toronto history. In 2019, with El Amin’s guid-
Area—a group often vulnerable to vio- ance, he received grants to produce
lence and incarceration. his documentary. Today he mentors
MyStand invites young people to other youth interested in film.
workshops on topics such as financial To build on these successes, El Amin
literacy, mental health and developing has big plans for MyStand, including
self-esteem. They’re then paired with hiring more staff, finding dedicated
staff who once faced similar chal- space out of which to run programs,
lenges—and overcame those barriers and also one day expanding to Van-
to build successful careers. In 2017, couver. As for his daughter, who is now
El Amin received a three-year grant 13, he says, “I’ve done right by her, and
from the Ontario Trillium Foundation it feels so good to say that.”
10 june 2021
VO
2021
S
TE
D BY IA N
CANAD
So, when you are shopping for, or researching your next product or service,
look for the Trusted BrandTM seal. A symbol of trust. Voted by Canadians.
1
Reader’s Digest Trusted Brand Study 2021
CELEBRATING OUR 2021
TRUSTE D B R AN DTM
10+ YEARS
WINNNE RS
Breakfast Cereal
YEARS
5–9
Passenger Car
Manufacturer
Hybrid Car
Manufacturer
Non-Dairy
Beverage
Arthritis Pain
Interior Paint Pharmacy/Drug Store Reliever
Headache Pain
Pet Food Beauty Retailer Reliever
1–4 YEARS
Allergy
Reliever*
Automobile
Insurance
Company
Health & Dental
Travel Insurance Insurance
Company Company*
Breakfast Bar
Pads/Liners Allergy
Reliever*
Food Delivery
Service
Meal Kit
Delivery
Exterior Stain Sparkling
Service
Water
Cold Symptom
Reliever
Home
Insurance Cash-Back
Company Rebate
Company Grill
WINNERS SPOTLIGHT
VO
2021
S
TE
D BY IA N
CANAD
VO
2021
S
TE
D BY IA N
CANAD
GOOD NEWS
Five Reasons to smile
BY Ali Amad
Veena Sahajwalla
launched the world’s first
e-waste microfactory.
rd.ca 15
reader’s digest
16 june 2021
elderly Asian-Americans. One attack Chinatown residents can fill out a
resulted in the death of an 84-year-old form on CIO’s website or call or text
Thai immigrant. a phone line to request a chaperone,
In February, they founded Compas- whether it’s to accompany them to a
sion in Oakland (CIO), a volunteer-run doctor’s appointment or help them
initiative that provides chaperones for buy groceries. By March, more than
seniors afraid of walking alone in the 800 volunteers had already signed up
city’s Chinatown area. “I wanted our as chaperones, and that number has
elders to know that I see their fear and increased even more following a
I stand with them,” says co-founder notorious shooting in Atlanta this past
Jess Owyoung, a 37-year-old student spring, during which six women of
counsellor who is of Chinese descent. Asian descent were killed.
ACTS OF KIND NESS
English. That friendship was the teer teachers and support staff that
inspiration for 26 Letters (the num- includes Salah, now 19.
ber of letters in the English alpha- Lebanon is in the middle of a
bet), a Beirut school that offers free Syrian refugee crisis: an estimated
education in English, math and other 1.5 million Syrian refugees currently
subjects to 100 students between reside there, with about 88 per cent
the ages of three and 21. living in extreme poverty.
For the sisters, there’s much more
that still needs to be done in a coun-
try that’s also been ravaged by the
pandemic. “Our aim is to help break
the cycle of poverty our students’
families are trapped in,” says Taibo.
“We’ve learned the importance of
having a purpose, and we’ve
found ours here.”
ASK AN EXPERT
Can I Learn to
Like Poetry?
We quiz poet and professor
Sonnet L’Abbé
BY Micah Toub
illustration by lauren tamaki
18 june 2021
Were Ravenous,” where he almost hits being bullied, go viral. It really reso-
a moose while driving and describes nated with people, and it allowed peo-
the animal as “a team of beavers try- ple to speak more openly about their
ing to operate stilts.” That image really experiences with bullying.
stayed with me. I first read it 20 years
ago, and I thought, yes, totally, you
are capturing the moose and its weird A GOOD POEM MAKES
leggy movement. YOU SEE SOMETHING IN
Speaking of that “aha” moment, a A WAY YOU’VE NEVER
study from 2017 found that people SEEN IT BEFORE.
listening to a poem for the first time
got goosebumps, even if they didn’t
fully understand it. And Dionne Brand has been a voice
Poems use repetition and sound and for the diasporic Black community for
the vowel and breath on the ear. That decades. She asks people to think about
can have the same impact on us as sing- how language can either be used to help
ing does. And mothers sing to their social justice come about or instead
babies to calm them down, right? uphold the status quo. For example, in
No Language Is Neutral, she wrote about
Is it acceptable, then, for someone Black lesbian desire in beautiful poems
to connect with a poem in a musical that also subtly exposed how the liter-
way only? ary language of the era upheld sexist
If you find it pleasurable, then yes. and homophobic norms.
There’s no one way to experience a
poem. Thanks. I’ll check those out. Any prac-
tical tips you can share as I begin?
Amanda Gorman’s reading of her Read slowly and read out loud. But
poem “The Hill We Climb” at Presi- also, when I read a new poem, I don’t
dent Biden’s inauguration got people worry if I don’t get it on the first read.
talking about race in America, and Being with a poem is kind of like being
it made them feel hopeful. How has with a good painting—you can take in
poetry been used to address social a whole painting and look at it in a sec-
issues in Canada? ond, but to appreciate all the choices
Shane Koyczan, who performed spoken that were made, you have to spend some
word poetry at the 2010 Olympics in time with it.
Vancouver, later had a video of his poem SONNET L’ABBÉ, A PROFESSOR AT VANCOUVER ISLAND
UNIVERSITY, PUBLISHED HER THIRD COLLECTION OF
“To This Day,” about the experience of POETRY, SONNET’S SHAKESPEARE, IN 2019.
rd.ca 19
reader’s digest
POINTS TO PONDER
20 june 2021
In Ontario, there is
no response and no
sense of urgency.
–Dr. Gillian Kolla, SPEAKING TO THE 59 PER CENT
INCREASE IN OPIOID-RELATED DEATHS IN
THE PROVINCE IN THE FIRST 11 MONTHS OF 2020
BETWEEN IMPACTFUL
MUSIC AND THESE This is a tough time.
AWARDS. Stop looking at the scale.
–Drake, IN RESPONSE TO THE LACK OF
DIVERSITY IN THE 2021 GRAMMY NOMINATIONS Start trying to be as
healthy as you can while
being as happy as you can.
–Ian Patton, registered exercise
physiologist and director of advocacy and
public engagement for Obesity Canada
rd.ca 21
reader’s digest
M
ORE THAN A year into the
pandemic, many people have
grown used to a new lock-
HEALTH down lifestyle: staying home, exercis-
ing less and eating more—all while
experiencing greater levels of stress
and anxiety.
“All of this contributes to worsen-
ing gut function,” says Christopher
Andrews, the lead physician at the
Calgary Gut Motility Centre, adding
that heartburn is on the rise. Some
experts have even given the trend a
name—“pandemic stomach”—and
last December there was a temporary
shortage of antacid medication in the
United States.
Heartburn, a fiery sensation in the
chest or upper belly, is the painful
effect of the stomach’s acid and diges-
tive enzymes creeping into the esoph-
agus. When you swallow food or liquid,
your esophageal sphincter, the muscle
around the bottom of your esophagus,
relaxes to allow the contents to move
down, then closes to prevent backup.
Fire in But if that muscle weakens or is unable
to close completely, stomach acid
the Belly might rise, causing irritation.
Diet is the most common culprit:
acidic foods such as grapefruits, hot
More stress brings more sauce or coffee increase the amount of
heartburn, but there are acid in your stomach, while chocolate,
alcohol and high-fat foods, such as
easy ways to beat it cheese or avocados, stimulate the
release of hormones that loosen the
BY Viviane Fairbank sphincter. Spicy food can also increase
illustration by jarett sitter uncomfortable sensations in the gut.
22 june 2021
Heartburn occurs in bodies of all Occasional heartburn isn’t a prob-
sizes, ages, ethnicities and genders, lem, but experiences of frequent indi-
but researchers have found that over- gestion should push you to prioritize
weight people are more at risk. Accord- a healthier lifestyle. According to a
ing to a major 2006 study, overweight recent study of 9,000 heartburn patients,
and obese participants were two to following a five-step health plan—
three times more likely to experience maintaining a sensible body weight,
frequent heartburn than those with a eating well, exercising, not smoking
healthy weight. This may be because of and limiting coffee, tea and carbon-
the increased pressure on the gut, ated beverages—can decrease symp-
Andrews says, which can push stom- toms by 40 per cent. Andrews also tells
ach acid up. Changes in diet, such as his patients to avoid eating close to
the recent tendency of people to lean bedtime: “If you lie down when your
on carbs and comfort food in lock- stomach is full, it’s much easier for
down, can also lead to more bloating things to come up.”
and gas in the digestive tract—again Over-the-counter antihistamines
putting a squeeze on the gut. can help by blocking the release of
stomach acid, while antacid medica-
LIFESTYLE CHANGES tions can temporarily relieve pain in
the esophagus. But if you experience
CAN REDUCE HEARTBURN heartburn more than three times a
SYMPTOMS BY
40%
week over a long period of time, you
should visit a doctor. Frequent acid
contact might scar your esophagus—
and, if left untreated, increases your
risk of esophageal cancer. You should
also consult a doctor if, in combination
Stress and anxiety are factors with heartburn, you experience diffi-
because the sympathetic nervous sys- culty swallowing, vomiting, weight loss
tem—which triggers the body’s “fight or anemia. A physician can prescribe
or flight” response—also interacts with stronger medication or may recom-
the enteric nervous system, which mend esophageal surgery to repair or
regulates digestion. In fact, during replace your damaged sphincter.
life-threatening situations, a person’s Though heartburn is currently on
digestion might slow down or even the rise, Andrews believes the uptick is
completely stop. At the same time, short-term. “Once life comes back to
stress can leave the nerves in the gut normal, I’m optimistic about things
overly sensitive. getting better,” he says.
rd.ca 23
reader’s digest
ups. While men tend to build more muscle from those issues on their
these activities, both women and men progress own, together with
similarly when you look at gains relative to body exercise, weight man-
size. Fighting off age-related muscle loss isn’t the agement and medica-
only perk: resistance training can improve stamina, tion, they can help
balance, flexibility and bone density, which can make it easier to live
translate into a lower risk of falls. with osteoarthritis.
24 june 2021
Dyslexia Brings A New Plant-Based
Challenges—But Insect Repellent
Also Strengths
COVID-19 Keeping mosquitoes
Vaccinations Are There might be more to and ticks at bay is about
Safe if You Have dyslexia than difficulties more than avoiding
Allergies with reading, suggests a itchy bites: these bugs
California study. Partici- sometimes transmit
Although it’s possible pating children watched serious infections such
to have an allergic reac- emotionally evocative as West Nile virus, Lyme
tion to a vaccine, the videos, such as a baby disease and tropical
likelihood is extremely laughing or a woman diseases like Zika and
low—around one in a who was about to vomit. malaria. If you’re hesi-
million. This means The kids with dyslexia tant about using syn-
that COVID-19 shots showed stronger reac- thetic insect repellents
are safe even for the tions, as measured by such as DEET, you
great majority of people signs such as their facial could instead try noot-
(SYRINGE) PETER DAZELEY/GETTYIMAGES.COM; (BOY) MORSA IMAGES/GETTYIMAGES.COM
rd.ca 25
reader’s digest
26 june 2021
MEDICAL MYSTERY
Something
in the Air
If it wasn’t bed bugs or
allergies, why was she
waking up with her eyes
swollen shut?
Although Brisco washed her bed-
ding and mattress cover on a hot cycle,
BY Lisa Bendall she continued to get outbreaks. They
illustration by victor wong weren’t frequent, only about every
other month, but they gradually inten-
sified. Soon Brisco was having epi-
I
N 2016, JANICE BRISCO, a Thornhill, sodes in which her entire face was red
Ont. funeral-home worker in her and swollen. At the end of 2017, the
mid-60s, started finding the occa- reaction was more severe than ever:
sional bump on her face. They often her face turned deep purplish-red, her
appeared at bedtime as a single rose- skin drew painfully tight, and her eye-
coloured welt, about the size of an lids, hit the hardest, swelled so that her
insect bite, or a small cluster. By morn- eyes almost closed.
ing, the bumps were usually swollen, “My husband said I looked like Rocky
red and itchy, and would take a few after a big fight!” she says. “It hurt, and
days to settle down. “I was wondering, it was quite scary, because I could
do I have bedbugs?” she says. “What in hardly see.” She booked an emergency
the world is it?” appointment with her family doctor,
rd.ca 27
reader’s digest
who was alarmed by her condition. when people apply these products
He recommended an antihistamine regularly. Brisco’s reactions, being
for a suspected allergic reaction and intermittent, didn’t fit. Brisco couldn’t
referred her to an allergist for testing. think of anything she used only spo-
It was two or three days before her skin radically. But without answers, she
started to clear up again. risked steadily worsening reactions, as
In January 2018, Brisco saw the aller- her immune system learned over time
gist, who conducted skin prick testing, to build an ever-stronger response.
in which tiny amounts of allergens are
scratched into the skin. She had minor
reactions to a few substances, like cats THE REACTIONS
and ragweed, but nothing that would ONLY GET WORSE
account for her attacks. “I was back to AS YOUR IMMUNE
square one, not knowing what it was,”
she says. SYSTEM RAMPS UP
Shortly after, at a routine appoint- ITS RESPONSE.
ment with her dermatologist, Brisco
mentioned the episodes and shared
some photos. Intrigued, the doctor sug- Skotnicki decided to conduct patch
gested Brisco see Dr. Sandy Skotnicki, testing. Flat, square packets, less than
a dermatologist in the department of a centimetre in size and each holding a
medicine at the University of Toronto. pad soaked with a tiny amount of a spe-
Skotnicki specializes in contact derma- cific substance, are taped to a patient’s
titis, a skin reaction from touching an back for 48 hours and then removed.
allergen or irritant—as opposed to an After another 48 hours, the patient is
allergy to something eaten or inhaled, examined for reactions. Dozens of sub-
which is what the skin prick testing stances can be tested at once, but since
had looked for. there are several thousand potential
When Brisco finally made it to the skin allergens, the dermatologist must
top of Skotnicki’s waiting list that decide which sets (called “trays”) to
August, the doctor was immediately use. Skotnicki has special trays for
certain the cause was something com- hairdressers, mechanics and other
ing into contact with her skin. “Janice occupations; she asks about hobbies
had these dramatic, explosive photos like painting and stamp collecting.
with incredible swelling and weeping,” “With contact dermatitis, you’re kind
she recalls. Often, contact dermatitis of like a detective,” she says.
occurs when something is applied to She started Brisco with the stan-
the skin, such as face cream, especially dard tray of 85 substances, including
28 june 2021
cosmetic ingredients and clothing dyes. bumps first appeared. The oils had
“My whole back, shoulder to shoulder, been recommended by a neighbour,
down almost to my waist, was covered and Brisco quickly became a fan, using
with little white square patches,” says different kinds for different reasons.
Brisco. Aside from the itchy adhesive She used citrus oils like lime or grape-
tape, she couldn’t tell what was hap- fruit as mood boosters, and she found
pening under the patches for the first peppermint invigorating. And then, on
two days. But after these were occasion, she’d used the offending lav-
removed, while Brisco waited for her ender to help with sleep, or blends that
follow-up appointment, she saw in the included ylang-ylang as a pick-me-up.
mirror that some squares of skin were Of course, when essential oils are
obviously inflamed. launched into the air, they come into
When Brisco came in for her exam, contact with skin. “The eyelids are so
Skotnicki noted where her skin had thin, they get allergic reactions first,”
become an angry red and covered in a says Skotnicki. If Brisco had continued
rash. Brisco tested positive to lavender using the oils, the reactions would have
and lemongrass, and was most highly become more extreme over time, and
allergic to ylang-ylang, a tropical fra- the itchy rashes would have spread to
grant tree whose extract has gained other areas, like her ears and neck, and
popularity as a beauty-product ingre- become debilitating. Around two to
dient. The substances Brisco had four per cent of the population is aller-
reacted to are found in shampoos and gic to chemicals in their day-to-day
perfumes, but they had something else products, often without knowing it, says
in common: they’re sold as essential Skotnicki. “They suffer for a long time.”
oils. At a recent conference, Skotnicki Armed with her diagnosis, Brisco
had learned about a rising incidence can now safely avoid the essential oils
of allergic patients who used diffusers, she’s allergic to, and she’s careful not
which disperse essential-oil particles to get too close to her diffuser. She also
into the air to benefit mood or mental uses fragrance-free beauty and clean-
function. Now, she questioned Brisco. ing products.
“I was diffusing daily,” Brisco says, It’s been a lesson for Skotnicki, too.
who’d started using an array of essen- “After Janice, I’ve asked every patient
tial oils a couple of years before the about essential oil diffusers!”
Do Your Part
There are no passengers on spaceship Earth. We are all crew.
MARSHALL McLUHAN
rd.ca 29
COVER STORY
DEMENTIA
30 june 2021
reader’s digest
WARNING
SIGNS
A guide to
13 symptoms
you should
never ignore
BY Mark Witten
reader’s digest
32 june 2021
has been declining for decades due to But getting to that stage requires
healthier lifestyles, the total number is noticing that something is wrong—
still projected to double over the next and letting somebody know.
15 years because of the aging popula- “The first time I knew Steve had a
tion. Each year, more than 75,000 Cana- problem was when he called me from
dians are diagnosed with some form of Dr. Tartaglia’s office,” says Eva. Once the
dementia. Around 10 per cent are under diagnosis was made, she realized there
the age of 65. had been indications. She just wasn’t
Early detection of dementia is import- aware of what to look for.
ant so that the person diagnosed, and Here are 13 signs that you should be
their family members, can take steps to assessed for dementia:
slow and mitigate the effects of the dis-
ease through lifestyle changes. Ideally, 1. YOUR PERSONALITY
that would mean seeing a family doc- CHANGES
tor, undergoing specialized testing and
receiving a formal diagnosis within six Inappropriate behaviour is an early
months or a year after noticing symp- symptom of damage to the brain’s
toms. But according to an Australian frontal lobes, which regulate our social
study, on average, it took two years for judgment.
people to make an initial visit to a doctor “People with this dysfunction might
and over three years for a firm diagnosis. undress in public, talk about people’s
People often associate dementia with private parts or say ‘That person is stu-
memory loss, but in many cases this is pid,’” explains Dr. Robin Hsiung, neu-
not the first sign. In fact, dementia can rologist and associate professor at the
affect many different areas of the brain, UBC Hospital Clinic for Alzheimer
and scientists now understand that Disease and Related Disorders. “They
symptoms differ based on where in the lose social graces and forget that what
brain changes occur. With this know- they’re saying or doing isn’t right.”
ledge, doctors now use advanced tools, These symptoms are often seen in
such as brain scans and protein bio- frontotemporal dementia (FTD), but
markers, to make earlier, more specific also when Alzheimer’s or vascular
dementia diagnoses. dementia affect the frontal lobes. If
700,000
Number of
Canadians living
with dementia
rd.ca 33
reader’s digest
they’re not recognized, they can be par- more positive, like a grandmother
ticularly unsettling. who looks out the window and sees
“The worst symptoms for families to her grandchildren playing in the play-
deal with are when there is a person- ground, but no one is there.”
ality shift and the person becomes Researchers believe that visual hal-
increasingly agitated or even paranoid lucinations may be caused by damage
and suspicious,” says Carrie Bourassa, to the brain’s visual-processing sys-
a professor at the University of Sas- tem, in combination with the disease’s
katchewan’s college of medicine who disruption of the sleep cycle—so that
specializes in dementia and aging in the visions might actually be dreams
Indigenous populations. breaking into waking consciousness.
Unusual behaviour can sometimes be
confused with psychiatric conditions, 3. YOU STRUGGLE
such as bipolar disorder or schizophre- WITH VOCABULARY
nia, and brain imaging can help rule
out or support a diagnosis of dementia. Word-finding difficulties are a com-
mon early sign of dementia. You might
2. YOU SEE THINGS have trouble finding the right words
THAT AREN’T THERE during conversations or when naming
objects, sometimes substituting the
Recurring visual hallucinations may be wrong word. People affected in this
an early symptom of Lewy body or Par- way pause while speaking, use filler
kinson’s disease dementia, although words and frequently rely on “it” or
people with Alzheimer’s disease can “they” instead of specific names for
experience them, too. These can be things. Researchers at the University of
as simple as seeing flashing lights or as Wisconsin-Madison found that these
elaborate as encountering animals and word-finding problems increased sig-
people that aren’t real. nificantly in the span of just two years
“Sometimes the hallucinations are for people developing dementia.
quite frightening, like seeing a wolf or Language can, in fact, be affected
a bear trying to break through the win- before memory problems emerge. An
dow,” says Hsiung. “Other times they’re Arizona State University study analyzed
10%
Rate of people diagnosed
JAIME HOGGE
34 june 2021
Stephen and Eva
Chow at their
Toronto home.
reader’s digest
80%
Percentage of dementia
cases that are diagnosed
as Alzheimer’s disease
36 june 2021
changes in memory, language, prob-
lem solving, mood and behaviour.
rd.ca 37
reader’s digest
with this type of memory loss will ask bells. “When you have frontal-lobe
loved ones the same questions over damage, you lose judgment and can
and over again. make rash, impulsive financial deci-
“Families can help a lot in recogniz- sions,” says Tartaglia. “A frugal person
ing these early symptoms, because if starts giving away more money or buy-
the person’s memory is poor, they won’t ing things they don’t need—like a fur-
remember the problems they have in nace from a door-to-door salesperson.”
remembering,” he says. She’s seen patients who did significant
This sign is one that often points to damage to their families’ finances, as
Alzheimer’s disease. In this type of well as CEOs of companies who lost mil-
dementia, the hippocampus—the brain lions because nobody noticed the signs.
area involved in forming, storing and A combination of declining decision-
retrieving memories—may be affected making skills and memory can also
first. In fact, short-term memory loss is lead to financial lapses. A 2020 JAMA
the most common symptom among Internal Medicine study found that peo-
people with Alzheimer’s disease, ple with dementia started missing bill
whereas it’s less often an early sign in payments up to six years before they
vascular dementia and Lewy body were diagnosed.
dementia, and rarely in FTD.
Medications and depression can also 8. YOU’RE
affect memory, so it’s important to EMOTIONALLY FLAT
check with your doctor, who might rec-
ommend a screening test, such as the According to a University of Cambridge
Montreal Cognitive Assessment—30 study, a lack of interest or motivation
questions which quickly identify abnor- can predict the onset of dementia
mal brain function. many years before other cognitive
symptoms do, especially in people
7. YOU’RE SUDDENLY with FTD, who may be diagnosed as
BAD WITH MONEY early as age 45.
Hsiung cautions, however, that apa-
A pattern of uncharacteristically poor thy can sometimes be confused with
financial decisions should set off alarm depression, as the difference between
10.4
Estimated population,
in millions, of Canadian
seniors in 2037
38 june 2021
45
Age at which frontotemporal
disorder can be diagnosed, often
following personality changes
them is subtle; a psychiatric assessment Motor problems are also common
is often required to tell them apart. with Lewy body dementia, but other
“In both, a person may sit on the sofa neurodegenerative conditions, such
all day long,” he says, explaining that the as Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis,
key difference is how much their mood should be considered, as well.
ranges. If someone becomes tearful
when they hear a sad story, this could 10. YOU’VE BECOME
be depression, but it’s apathy if the per- INSENSITIVE
son shows no emotional response. If
it’s the latter, Hsiung says, it could be According to a 2016 Neuroscience
the beginning of Alzheimer’s disease, Research Australia report, loss of empa-
FTD or vascular dementia. thy is a core symptom in some people
diagnosed with FTD. It’s related to loss
9. YOU’RE NOT MOVING of grey matter in the social brain. These
AS WELL AS USUAL patients are unaware of the impact of
their behaviour on others, and they
Difficulties with movement and per- lose both the ability to understand
forming physical activities in the right other people’s emotions and to share
sequence can be an early sign of dam- in their feelings.
age to the parietal lobe, which is related “You may not care about your family
to motor skills—and this is one of the anymore,” says Tartaglia. “Or a family
signs that Eva thinks she overlooked in member is crying, but you don’t recog-
her husband. Three years before his nize they are sad.”
diagnosis, the couple began to partici-
pate in dragon-boat racing. Chow had 11. YOU NO LONGER GRASP
always been a well-coordinated athlete CONCEPTS YOU ONCE DID
and handyman, but during training he
struggled to learn the basic stroke tech- Problems with tasks that require
nique. “The coach kept telling him, abstract thinking, such as understand-
‘This is the way you do it.’ Steve didn’t ing numbers or reading a house plan—
get it very well, and he was upset with especially if that was a strength before—
the coach,” says Eva. are an early symptom that can be
rd.ca 39
reader’s digest
Mood changes, such as depression and once chow was properly diagnosed, his
anxiety, can be early signs of dementia anxiety about his symptoms decreased
that start well before people begin to and he became calmer. “Eva is the
experience memory loss, according model caregiver because she wants to
to a 2015 Neurology study. Tartaglia do what’s best for Stephen and encour-
notes that, especially with Lewy body ages him to do things,” says Tartaglia.
dementia, non-anxious people can This has included joining Alzheimer
become anxious much of the time. Society of Toronto programs and sup-
They may exhibit persistent worry, fear port groups for people with early-onset
or agitation, commonly triggered by dementia, practising daily meditation
going outside the home or being sep- and getting regular aerobic exercise.
arated from a family member. But perhaps most importantly, with
Eva’s encouragement, Chow began to
13. YOU GET LOST share his dementia diagnosis with the
MORE OFTEN people in his life. “I felt better after I
told my family and friends,” he says.
Losing navigational skills, and the abil- “They were very supportive, and it took
ity to create a mental map of your envi- a load off my shoulders. I learned that
ronment, can be one of the earliest you should tell people what you’re
dementia symptoms. In fact, in 2019, noticing sooner rather than later and
University of Cambridge researchers not keep it to yourself.”
Always New
To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be
always in no-man’s-land, to experience each moment as completely fresh.
To live is to be willing to die over and over again.
PEMA CHODRON, WHEN THINGS FALL APART
40 june 2021
services on Zoom.
LIFE’S LIKE THAT Naturally, some of us
had difficulty figuring
FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: PETR SOCHMAN/COMEDY WILDLIFE PHOTO AWARDS 2020; BERNHARD ESTERER/COMEDY WILDLIFE PHOTO AWARDS 2020;
rd.ca 41
reader’s digest
42 june 2021
HEART
rd.ca 43
reader’s digest
O
ver the past year, I’ve into their more obstreperous, feath-
found myself justify- ered teenaged fowl-hood. This pro-
ing all manner of what gram helps fund the farm and, I told
you might call non- myself, generously provides us with
essential purchases in what we’d been lacking: joy, sponta-
the name of lockdown. neity and fellowship.
I ordered a hand-knit cotton sweater
from Spain and throw cushions from “WE’RE GETTING ducklings!” I proudly
Sweden, but the most delightful and, announced. Joaquin replied with some-
um, let’s say, unusual thing I “added to thing along the lines of “What?”
cart” was a pair of Pekin ducklings. I explained that, for $165, the farm
This happened last June, when my would bring us everything we need-
husband, Joaquin, my five-year-old ed—“chick Gatorade,” a heat lamp,
son, Leo, and I were in month three of food and bedding (a bale of pine shav-
lockdown. By then, I had long shut- ings) and also an activity for Leo.
tered the charade that was our home “Okay. When do we get them?” he
school, and there were no summer said gamely, at which point, I smugly
camps and no play dates. If there was a concluded that I had married wisely.
playdate, I was the playmate—and I was “You never really know a man until
exhausted. Even our two cats seemed you’ve divorced him,” said Zsa Zsa
increasingly oppressed by our con- Gabor. Yes, or until you’ve adopted live-
stant presence, pining for Precedented stock together in a pandemic.
Times, when the house was their pri- About 10 days later, on a sunny
vate hotel and humans would only June morning, a man from the farm
occasionally pop in, like housekeeping. arrived at our downtown Toronto
So there I was scrolling Instagram, doorstep. In what will remain the best
retreating into the seeming perfection delivery moment of my life, he handed
of other people’s lives, when I spotted over a shoebox housing a pair of new-
a friend’s photo of two tiny golden born chicks.
ducklings in her living room. I mes- Leo and I held them in our hands,
saged her immediately. She explained each one a tiny, almost weightless par-
that she was fostering the babies for a cel of silky gold. Their webbed feet,
farm in rural southern Ontario. You clementine-orange, felt soft and satiny
can adopt the newborns and parent against our palms, and their glossy lit-
them as long as you like—typically, the tle beaks were unexpectedly warm.
farm explains on its website, the usual Leo immediately cast himself as their
foster lasts a few weeks, until the duck- father, and they accepted the role hap-
lings waddle from their downy infancy pily, waddling at his heels and slipping
44 june 2021
on our hardwood floors, like Bambi on himself scarce when it came to the
an ice rink. He decided to call one of dirty work.
the ducklings Gaston, after his favou- “It’s okay, Mummy, I’ll let you clean
rite cartoon character, and I named that mess,” he’d so generously offer. At
the other one Ping, after the Chinese this point, while serving as parent,
duck hero from one of my favourite cook, playmate, cleaner and head but-
childhood books. ler to Leo, I also had duck husbandry
Leo kissed Ping and Gaston on their to add to the list.
beaks and they nipped at his lips,
which he concluded meant they loved AFTER A FEW WEEKS, the ducklings at
him. He then decided that they must least tripled in size, and the fairy tale
need a bath after a long trip from the took a turn. As much as we loved Ping
country. He filled a Tupperware bin and Gaston, they’d become an armful,
with water, which filled me with a surge and I began to think it was time to return
of relief. (It was an activity! Without an them. It was only then, however, that I
iPad!). So much of parenting, especially realized that I didn’t know what would
pandemic parenting, comes down to happen to them back at the farm. When
guilt management. And our
new family members delivered
me from mine. When Leo low-
ered them into the bin, they
took to water like, well, ducks.
Afterwards, we swaddled them
to keep them warm.
If the pandemic had plunged
us all into chaos, at least this
kind had a madcap charm. The
messiness was, also, literal, of
course. For the ducks, the world
is not so much a stage as it is a
toilet—you can’t house-train
a duck the way you can a dog.
COURTESY OF OLIVIA STREN
rd.ca 45
reader’s digest
I called to find out, the woman on the Potter book. Bunnies hopped around
phone, annoyed by this line of inquiry, sunlit grasses; a wooden swing hung
tersely suggested that I refer to the last from an old tree; miniature horses were
page in my “duckling manual”—a beak- enjoying a gambol about the pasture;
orange folder that had arrived with our and grown-up ducks promenaded
pets. In fine print, I read to my horror about, their plumage white and plump
that they’d likely serve as a “wonderful as summer clouds. If the owner had
supper” at a wedding or a banquet. We offered to adopt me, too, I would have
had been fostering these animals, hadn’t happily moved in. We left our ducks
we, not fattening them for a meal? and headed home, feeling the sadness
We couldn’t keep them, but I also of empty nesters (forgive the pun).
couldn’t drive them back to their The duck’s home farm never fol-
demise. And this is how I found myself lowed up with me or attempted to get
launching a sort of duck-adoption them back. But a couple of months
agency, frantically emailing and calling later, the adoptive parents got in touch
animal sanctuaries in hopes of find- to send me a photograph of Ping and
ing them a safe home. Meanwhile, the Gaston. They were adults. In their
ducks flirted with adolescence, awk- snowy splendour, they were strolling
wardly sprouting snowy feathers. (Ping, about with six other ducks.
the taller of the two, looked like he “They have a great duck life!” she
might take up smoking.) wrote, “free to roam and be with their
After about a week and a half, I was friends.” They somehow found what
losing hope. Then I received an email the pandemic has taken from us all—
from a lovely woman who lives on a freedom and the comfort of commu-
hobby farm in Port Perry. She was look- nity. I felt a certain swell of maternal
ing for more ducklings. She was vegan. pride, nostalgic for their golden baby-
She was perfect! hood and for the duck days of the
We chauffeured Ping and Gaston to pandemic summer. Finding them this
their new home, and as we crunched country house of dreams was the best
over the gravel road, I felt as if we were thing I did in 2020. Also, maybe the
slipping into the pages of a Beatrix only thing.
Sunny Words
Summer afternoon—summer afternoon;
to me those have always been the two most beautiful
words in the English language.
HENRY JAMES
46 june 2021
Bright
Ideas for
Healthy
Living
Sign Up for
the brand new
Best Health
newsletter—
it’s FREE!
• The latest
in health and
wellness
• Tasty,
low-stress
recipes
• Easy fitness
routines
• Beauty tips
and tricks
• Exclusively
for Canadians!
besthealthmag.ca/newsletter
DRAMA IN REAL LIFE
LAST BREATH
BY Christopher Matthews
illustrations by federico gastaldi
48 june 2021
reader’s digest
reader’s digest
50 june 2021
Antonio remained below and watched A jet of air geysered out. He tried to
Horst approach the cave entrance and inhale it but coughed on a mixture of
switch on his flashlight. Then, with a air and water. The regulator’s outlet
thumbs-up sign to his friend, he slid valve must have gotten fouled.
into the inky darkness. Antonio pulled on his air hose, and
As the minutes went by, Antonio it came back. He inserted the mouth-
started to feel a hard ball of tension in his piece but immediately started cough-
stomach. Horst is sure taking his time, ing again. He couldn’t last much lon-
he thought. What on earth is he doing? ger. Where is Horst? He prayed his
Has he forgotten he is on reserve? friend had made a breath-held dash
Then: Maybe something’s wrong! for the surface.
Kicking out with his fins, Antonio
started into the hole. Just then he caught
a glimmer of light ahead. It grew stron- ANTONIO SUCKED AT HIS
ger. It was Horst. MOUTHPIECE BUT THERE
Thank God, Antonio started to think WAS NOTHING LEFT.
but stopped in mid-thought. Horst was
only three or four yards away, but the LEGS THRASHING, HE
flashlight beam was dancing erratically. MADE FOR THE EXIT.
There is something wrong!
Before he knew it, Horst was on Anto-
nio, grabbing for his air hose, trying Paddling through the muddy water,
to pry it from his mouth. Instinctively his backpack clutched to his chest,
Antonio tried to pull away. Then he real- Antonio found Horst’s flashlight, lying
ized Horst wanted to share his air. It’s on the bottom, and picked it up. Ahead,
called buddy breathing—one mouth- the tunnel floor sloped gently upward.
piece is passed between two divers, one It had to be the way out. His legs thrash-
exhaling while the other breathes in. He ing, Antonio made for the exit. He would
must be out of air, Antonio thought. see daylight at any moment.
He opened his mouth to release the The tunnel began climbing almost
hose, but Horst, in his panic, knocked vertically. Antonio sucked hard on the
Antonio’s mask off. Unable to see or mouthpiece, but there was nothing left.
breathe, his lungs almost bursting, Anto- He dropped the useless tanks and swam
nio turned to his last resort: sucking the for the exit with his last strength.
air directly from his reserve tank. Antonio’s head broke the surface, and
On the verge of blacking out, Anto- he gulped huge breaths of air into his
nio wriggled out of his backpack har- burning lungs. But where was the bright
ness and opened the tap on the tank. blue summer sky? Looking up, he saw
rd.ca 51
reader’s digest
only solid rock. The space around his passageway. It was Horst. He was dead.
head was not much larger than an Cataldo used all his strength to push
upside-down wash basin. He’d taken a and pull the body out of the tunnel. He
wrong turn and emerged in a tiny air knew that two men had entered the
pocket in the reef. Without air tanks, reef, and his years of experience told
he was trapped. He could only wait for him the other diver, lost even further
death. He started to scream and went in the maze, must be dead, too. He
on screaming until he had no voice left. considered going back in but decided
against it because of the incoming
as the minutes passed and Antonio and dark, the muddy water and the lack of
Horst failed to surface, Luciano knew help. Too risky.
he had to get help. He swam to the boat Nico Fumai, chief frogman with
and used his cellphone to call the the Bari Fire Brigade, was at home on
nearest rescue squad, the fire brigade his way to bed at 11:30 p.m. when the
in Taranto, some 65 kilometres away. phone rang.
Shortly after 6:30 p.m., Taranto’s It was headquarters calling: “Did you
head diver, 52-year-old Cataldo Pala- hear what happened out at Polignano?”
dino, entered the tunnel. Eight metres the duty officer asked.
inside, his flashlight caught a dark Yes, Nico answered, he’d heard about
shape floating against the roof of the it on the radio link.
52 june 2021
“We need your help,” the officer Nico turned on his flashlight and
told him. entered the tunnel. Four metres, five.
“No problem,” he replied. A fork ahead. He caught his breath.
He called his three other diveteam From a hole in the rock to the right, a
members. “Rendezvous tomorrow huge, shining black eye stared at him.
morning at 5:30 a.m.,” he told them. A conger eel. He tugged the rope twice
At his kitchen table, Nico, a muscular to let his deputy know that everything
45-year-old veteran diver, began plan- was okay and, keeping his gaze fixed
ning the next morning’s operations. on the eel, cautiously advanced down
The thought that now entered his mind the first right fork.
struck him with the force of a falling There was something glinting on
brick. Who said there’s another corpse the tunnel floor ahead: a diver’s mask.
in the tunnel? That guy may be alive! I’m on the right track, Nico thought,
He called his team again. “Rendez- pocketing the mask. Then he found
vous an hour earlier, at 4:30 a.m.” Horst’s camera caught under a ledge.
By 6:41 a.m. on Sunday, Nico’s team Getting closer.
was positioned outside the tunnel on
board a six-metre inflatable dinghy.
Nico was suited up and ready to dive. DANGLING BETWEEN
He had connected two air hoses to his TWO ROCKS WAS A PAIR
twin tanks so two people could breathe OF PALE LEGS WEARING
off them. His deputy would stay at the
cave entrance and pay out the lifeline BLACK FINS. AND ONE
tied to his waist. As always before a dive, WAS MOVING!
Nico prayed. Then he went overboard.
rd.ca 53
reader’s digest
Nico knew the young man must be picked up the slack. They made ago-
kept from panicking. He gently passed nizingly slow progress. Linked to the
the mouthpiece of his reserve regula- same tanks, they had to move like Sia-
tor up over his head, through the sur- mese twins. Finally they came to the
face of the water to where Antonio’s eel, which surveyed them from its
face must be. He heard him take a cou- den. Seconds later they were out in the
ple of breaths before handing the air blue-grey light of the open sea.
hose back down. Antonio is trying to “He’s alive! He’s alive!” Nico screamed
buddy breathe with me, Nico realized. as they broke the surface. “Get some
How incredible that, after 17 hours in warm clothes.”
this hole, he is still lucid! The frogmen lifted Antonio’s limp
Nico had to show Antonio that he body from the water and radioed for
could keep the hose. He took the an ambulance. As they waited, the
mouthpiece out of his own mouth and, men rubbed and massaged Antonio.
holding this and the reserve, passed “You can’t die now,” Nico told him.
them both up. This time Antonio kept “You’ve got to live.”
one hose and handed back the other. At the closest hospital, Antonio was
Pulling on Antonio’s arm, Nico treated for exposure, exhaustion and
coaxed him underwater. Now he saw an edema caused by nearly drown-
the young man’s face: pale, boyish fea- ing. Doctors said he would not have
tures with a stubbly beard and flowing, survived more than another hour in
shoulder-length hair. Antonio shook the cave—hypothermia would have
his head, his eyes wide with terror, and stopped his heart.
retreated back to the surface. When Nico finally climbed back into
Nico understood. Antonio wouldn’t his van to head home, he doubled over,
submerge unless he could see where sobbing. He felt he had taken part in a
he was going. Luckily there was the miracle. Somehow an unseen hand
mask he’d found. He handed it up. that had guided Antonio to a tiny air
Antonio put it on and returned under pocket had guided him there, too.
the surface. Where he should have found death, he
Slipping the guide rope into Anto- had met life.
nio’s hand, Nico pushed him headfirst
into the tunnel. Antonio didn’t have On September 13, 1992, Nico Fumai
enough strength to swim, so Nico and his men were awarded the presti-
had to keep pushing him from behind, gious international “Captain Coura-
checking at the same time that he was geous” prize for bravery at sea.
still breathing. The guide rope stayed
THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN THE JUNE 1994
taut, as, outside the tunnel, his deputy EDITION OF READER’S DIGEST.
54 june 2021
Over lunch at a fast-
LAUGHTER food restaurant, I was
the Best Medicine telling my friend about
a teenager who had
rear-ended my car.
Taste Test Game, Set, Match The teen blamed me
I wonder what the The depressing thing for the accident.
trial-and-error process about tennis is that “She called me every
was like for the first no matter how much dirty name in the book,”
people who ever ate I play, I’ll never be I said.
mushrooms: “This one as good as a wall. I Just then, I looked
tastes like beef, this played a wall once. over to the next table,
one killed Brian imme- They’re relentless. where two nine-year-
diately, and this one — MITCH HEDBERG, old boys had been pay-
makes you see God for comedian ing close attention to
a week.” my story.
— @GOULCHER Plot Points One said to the other,
I’m sick of characters “There’s a book?”
My dad constantly tells in movies and TV — GCFL.NET
me I’ll never amount shows taking off their
to anything because I glasses when things
Send us your original
always procrastinate. get real. That’s when jokes! You could earn $50
I’ll show him. Just you want your glasses and be featured in the
you wait. the most! magazine. See page 7 or
— REDDIT.COM — @SHUTUPMIKEGINN rd.ca/joke for details.
My family and I are from China, and I’m the only one
who speaks English. We drew straws for it and I lost.
DALE LEUNG
rd.ca 55
reader’s digest
HEALTH
10 LIFE-
SAVING
INNOVATIONS
COMING TO A
HOSPITAL
NEAR YOU
How health-care workers
and institutions are
revolutionizing surgery,
patient care, cancer
treatment—and more
BY Lauren McGill
illustration by myriam wares
rd.ca 57
reader’s digest
58 june 2021
Toronto General oncologists
use a robot arm for surgery.
platform’s costs (it operates as a private, using a lens and a screen, and dissect-
fee-based service). This new frontier of ing cancerous tissue from its healthy
health-care delivery also promises to counterpart—enabling a patient to
alleviate hospital staffing shortages and keep their nipple. (In typical mastec-
a lack of doctors in rural areas long after tomies, the nipple is not spared at all.)
the COVID-19 pandemic. The healing process is also faster with
the nipple kept intact, allowing a
THE ROBOT patient to undergo immediate breast
THAT PERFORMS reconstruction and gain a more nat-
MASTECTOMIES ural post-op appearance—a game
Robot-assisted surgery offers patients changer for the one in eight Canadians
the hope of smaller incisions, faster who will experience breast cancer in
recovery and less noticeable scars. In their lifetime.
November 2019, Toronto General Hos-
pital received a new robot surgeon—a THE APP THAT
robotic arm that specializes in mastec- MANAGES YOUR
tomies, a first in Canada. And in Feb- CANCER CARE
ruary 2020, Dr. Tulin Cil, the hospital’s When Laurie Hendren was diagnosed
chair of breast surgery oncology, and with breast cancer in 2014, she
her team became the first doctors to assumed she’d have fast, up-to-date
successfully perform a robot-assisted access to her test results and treatment
nipple-sparing mastectomy. plans. But she quickly discovered that
The use of the robotic arm assists this wasn’t the case: the process for
UHN
in visualizing deeper into the breast, viewing our own medical info is both
rd.ca 59
A drone is
prepped for a life-
saving delivery.
Opal’s launch, but her app is now used nered with Michael Nolan, chief of the
throughout the entire MUHC Cancer Renfrew County paramedic service in
Centre, and plans are underway to rural Ontario, which serves an area of
bring it to hospitals across the country. 7,250 square kilometres of densely
60 june 2021
reader’s digest
forested, sparsely populated rural ter- These brainy beds can also help pre-
rain. Nolan’s idea was to test how fast vent falls: if an at-risk patient starts
the drones could deliver a defibrillator. climbing out, sensors rearrange the
Several test flights were conducted, bed into a bowl shape, providing extra
and each time, the drone arrived seven seconds for a nurse or caregiver to
life-saving minutes earlier than the arrive. The beds also monitor vital signs
ambulance. Renfrew paramedics have and will alert staff if a patient’s heart
since acquired a small fleet of drones, rate spikes or drops. Patients can expect
which they now use almost every day to snuggle into a smart bed in the future
in their emergency services. as more hospitals make the switch.
Thanks to these successes, the Cana-
dian Transport Agency granted InDro THE VIRTUAL
Robotics the first commercial drone CARE ASSISTANT
licence in the country in November Joyce Dingwell has lived at St. Joseph’s
2020. Currently, the company is work- Continuing Care in Cornwall, Ont., for
ing on increasing their flight distance five years. As a small subacute care hos-
to 200 kilometres—potentially saving pital, the facility rehabilitates patients
even more lives. who have experienced strokes and hip
fractures, while also looking after long-
THE COMFORTABLE term patients with conditions such as
HOSPITAL BED multiple sclerosis and ALS. At 82, Din-
More than a quarter of Canadian gwell’s vision loss meant she relied on
patients develop pressure ulcers, or staff for everything from turning on the
bedsores, from remaining in one radio to phoning a friend. But what if,
position for too long during hospital staff wondered, there was a simple fix
stays. These wounds are tricky to treat to give her more independence?
and can increase the risk of sepsis and In 2019, with the rise of voice-
even death. activated devices as their inspiration,
To combat this, four Ontario hospi- staff headed to a nearby electronics
tals have tested swapping out their store and bought a Google Home. The
regular beds for ones that use artificial smart speaker connects to Google
intelligence to gently move a person Assistant, which lets Dingwell use her
lying on them. The Swedish-made Ably voice to text, call, check her calendar,
bed, for example, predicts a patient’s control her music, set timers, hear the
movements and then uses adjustable weather, get the latest news and more.
longitudinal motion springs to redis- “It’s been so easy to figure out,” she says.
tribute their weight, significantly Buoyed by their success, staff next
reducing the risk of sores. installed kits in the rooms of Liz Mullin
rd.ca 61
reader’s digest
62 june 2021
responses. Unfortunately, most older from being a doctor to being a patient
hospitals have limited window views and saw a stark contrast between her
and few accessible outdoor spaces, textbook knowledge and her actual
making it difficult for patients to get experience. She decided to share her
those added healing benefits. That’s story to help other doctors bridge the
why some Canadian hospitals have physician-patient disconnect and, in
decided to get creative. turn, offer more informed care.
In 2020, Kemptville District Hospital Since 2018, Ashdown has spoken at
teamed up with a local photography over 20 medical conferences and to
club in Ontario to bring the therapeu- thousands of health-care professionals,
tic powers of nature into its hallways. urging them to put patients’ experi-
Together, nurses and artists chose 20 ences first. Today, she’s helping other
large-scale nature images of recogniz- patients learn how to improve their side
able regional landmarks. Next, they of the conversation. Together with the
printed the soothing images on easily Ottawa Hospital, Ashdown helped cre-
sanitized canvas and hung them in ate a two-day storytelling workshop,
accessible hallways, where patients teaching patients how to better voice
using wheelchairs or walkers pass by. their experiences of illness and disease.
After the photos were installed, one The first was held in October 2019, with
elderly patient who was making slow 10 patients, and the program has con-
progress toward recovery told staff she tinued online during the pandemic. She
finally felt energized—she wanted to says many doctors have realized that
get out of the hospital so she could care is too often done to the patient, not
revisit the local landmarks herself. with them—and that needs to change.
Ashdown hopes to expand her
THE DOCTORS workshop to other hospitals and, with
WHO LISTEN it, the idea that doctors must listen to
Traditionally, doctors learn about dis- their patients more. “Sharing patient
ease through textbooks and lectures— stories can give doctors a different
but rarely from patients themselves. view that would not otherwise be
Dr. Lynn Ashdown experienced this accessible to them,” she says. “It
firsthand after an accident in 2014 left increases compassion and contributes
her paralyzed. In an instant, she went to patient-centred care.”
Antique Appreciation
One should never be the oldest thing in one’s house.
PATSY CLINE
rd.ca 63
reader’s digest
AS KIDS SEE IT
“Are you sure I’m not allergic to broccoli and Brussels sprouts?
Maybe you should check again.”
64 june 2021
One day, my seven- My daughter turned five today. She’s
year-old was staring at currently having a meltdown because,
my face.
Me: What is it, sweetie? according to her, she “still looks four.”
My seven-year-old: Is — @AOTAKEO
my nose weird, too?
— @THISONESAYZ There is no stronger Years ago I took my lit-
acting performance tle girl to the park. We
When I was a kid, I than a kid who pre- stopped at the pond
helped wash my dad’s tended to fall asleep in where children fed the
car. When I saw a spot the car so they could be ducks. One kid noticed
that wouldn’t disappear carried into the house my daughter watching
with the sponge, I by their parents. and offered some of his
grabbed sandpaper. My — @DADMANN_WALKING bread cubes. “Thank
dad never let me wash you,” my daughter said,
the car again. At the mall, my four- then ate them.
— REDDIT.COM year-old son, Rudy, and — @WYVERNANDSTAR
I ran into an old high
While working from school teacher of mine, One morning our three-
home, I had 15 minutes who greeted us happily. year-old son climbed
between calls and went My son asked who that into bed with us. He
to play with my kid. She person was, and I wanted his dad to read
handed me a stuffed explained. A puzzled Little Red Riding Hood
animal to watch, said Rudy then asked, to him, but his dad
she had a meeting “Mom, how can he still wasn’t awake yet and
and left. be alive?” had already read
— @NOTMYTHIRDRODEO — ANA DIAZ, Guelph, Ont. him the story the night
before. Our son pouted
My four-year-old neigh- When I got my first dog, and said, “Dad, it’s
bour is thrilled to learn I was seven and he was your responsibility.”
that I walk the same one—or seven in dog — DARLENE WILLIAMS,
dog every day. years. I remember cry- Winnipeg
Kid: This looks like the ing when he turned
same dog as last time. two because I didn’t
Send us your original
Me: It is. think a 14-year-old dog jokes! You could earn $50
Kid: Dad, it’s the same would want to hang out and be featured in the
dog as last time! with me. magazine. See page 7 or
— MOLLY PRIDDY, writer — @TREV97 rd.ca/joke for details.
rd.ca 65
HISTORY
A CLOSER LOOK
AT THE BUTTER
within its fragile pastry shell and its
TART, FROM ITS
sticky filling of butter, sugar, syrup
and egg, the butter tart holds Canada’s FASCINATING
memories of long weekends, country
bakeries, recipes handed down through ORIGINS TO
ITS CROWNING
generations—and an eternal debate
over raisins.
AS CANADA’S
Though it is made from pantry sta-
ples, the alchemy of a butter tart’s ingre-
dients makes for something all its own.
And its simplicity means you’ll usually
have what you need on hand to whip MOST FAMOUS
DESSERT
up a dozen. Plus, they freeze well (some
say they taste even better frozen, espe-
cially on a hot summer day).
NATIONAL
But why do butter tarts and Canada
seem so inseparable?
For me, it’s the memory of eating
oozing tarts on a cottage deck in the
midday sun, followed by a dive into
the lake to wash off all the sticky resi-
TREASURE
due. Often, it was too hot to bake our
own, so my family and I would drive BY Emma Waverman
into town and wait in line for butter FROM COTTAGE LIFE
tarts at the local café, sometimes shar- photograph by liam mogan
ing one on the car ride home.
66 june 2021
reader’s digest
reader’s digest
Whatever your own experience, the perhaps homemakers who had dairy,
butter tart is firmly tied to our Cana- eggs, flour, lard and brown sugar put
dian identity. People become lifelong them together into a humble tart to
devotees to the tart, pledging undying feed farmhands, family and visitors
loyalty to their local bakery or their year-round. This, she says, explains the
mother’s version. butter tart’s similarities to Quebec’s
But where did the butter tart come sugar pie (which contains whipping
from? And is it still a butter tart if you cream); the butter tart is a parallel
add bacon? Here’s the surprisingly con- invention born of necessity and similar
troversial story of this sweet little treat. circumstances. “Why is it,” she asks,
“that Canadians can’t just accept that
CONTROVERSY #1 we made something ourselves?”
THE INVENTION OF
THE BUTTER TART
CONTROVERSY #2
NATIONAL
DESSERT STATUS
The exact origin of the iconic tart is
unknown. Some credit the filles du roi:
the young French women who settled Does the butter tart deserve icon sta-
in New France between 1663 and 1673 tus in our broad and diverse country?
to marry voyageurs. They combined If nostalgia and history are reason
their knowledge of pastry with the enough, then the answer is yes. In 2019,
ingredients on hand and, according Canada Post even put the butter tart
to the Canadian Encyclopedia, cre- on a limited-edition stamp. (It did not,
ated butter tarts. sadly, taste like a butter tart.)
Others look to settlers from the “bor- If that’s not enough, then also con-
der counties” between Scotland and sider age and geographic supremacy:
England, who arrived in Canada in butter tarts date to at least the early
the 1800s toting Ecclefechan tarts, also 1900s and are popular from Newfound-
called border tarts. Food writer Eliza- land to B.C. But what about Nanaimo
beth Baird believes the treat, filled with bars, a latecomer to the handheld
dried fruit and made in a pie tin, evolved dessert scene, having originated in the
into the butter tart. Further proof? Immi- 1950s? Well, a 2018 voting bracket
grants from the same region also set- created by Daybreak North, a CBC
tled in Georgia, home to pecan pie. radio show in B.C., still crowned butter
However, culinary historian Liz tarts the champion holiday treat over
Driver, author of Culinary Land- Nanaimo bars.
marks: A Bibliography of Canadian Okay, so they’re nationally revered,
Cookbooks, 1825–1949, suggests that but are they a Canadian icon? South of
68 june 2021
the border, Americans have largely sides met over butter tarts (yes, really)
remained unaware of our beloved tart— and decided to co-exist.
their loss. In classic Canuck fashion,
many Canadians find it more reason to CONTROVERSY #4
propel the tart to icon status. THE PERFECT
CONTROVERSY #3 BUTTER TART
TOURS, TRAILS raisins or no raisins? Our passion over
rd.ca 69
LIFE LESSON
THE
OWER
O
P
N
OF
70 june 2021
reader’s digest
72 june 2021
put it in her 2019 self-help book F*ck personal boundaries, and you’ve
No!: How to Stop Saying Yes When You decided that no, your neighbour can-
Can’t, You Shouldn’t, or You Just Don’t not borrow your lawn mower again.
Want To, any time she felt saying yes But how do you actually say no without
was a bad idea, a little warning voice damaging your relationships or stress-
piped up in her head. She had to learn ing yourself out?
to stop stifling it. In time, the more she “Avoid lengthy explanations,” coun-
truthfully said no to things she didn’t sels Newman. “As soon as you say, ‘Oh,
want to do, the more she was able to I can’t because I have to walk my
get in tune with herself and give other mother-in-law’s dog,’ you’re leaving
things an enthusiastic yes. wiggle room for them to debate with
“If it’s something you really want to you.” It’s sufficient to simply say, “No,
do, you don’t tense up when you’re I can’t do it.”
asked,” explains Newman, “and you’re If that kind of bluntness makes you
happy to do it because it’s for someone uncomfortable, Newman suggests
you trust will likely reciprocate at some keeping at the ready phrases like
point down the road.” While favours “Maybe next time” and “Thanks for
aren’t a scoresheet that need to be asking, but I’m overloaded right now.”
perfectly balanced, she adds, nobody Most importantly, she says, don’t
wants to feel like they’re at the mercy waste time worrying that the person
of a “user” or a “taker”—that person you’ve refused is sitting around think-
who is always asking for something and ing about what a pill you are. They’re
rarely plans on giving anything back. probably not thinking about you at all
Newman says it’s always prudent to and have already moved on to their
be wary of classic taker tactics, such as next target.
flattery (“Oh, but you have to make the Chapelle jokes that she’s spent
baby shower cake because you’re “many, many” hours in therapy learn-
the best at it!”); playing on your sympa- ing how to say no to favours, but it still
thies (“I’ve just been so busy with doesn’t come easily to her. She’s work-
my sick iguana, I haven’t been able ing on being able to say no sometimes
to work enough hours to pay rent”); and not feel terrible for doing so. Often
or pressuring you for an immediate she still does feel guilty, but she’s learn-
answer so you don’t have time to con- ing to live with it. Her new attitude
sider your options. has come with some valuable lessons:
“When you never say no, people take
SAY THE WORD advantage of you, and if you start doing
OK, so you’ve made your chosen favours for the wrong person, you can
people lists, you’ve figured out your get into a lot of trouble.”
rd.ca 73
reader’s digest
A temporary camp
in the Democratic
Republic of the
Congo’s province
of Ituri.
74 june 2021
SOCIETY
BEARING WITNESS
Today,
lack of lawful governance have led to
the slaughter of untold thousands of
innocents and the displacement of 4.68
million as of last November.
The intimate empathy of LeMoyne’s
everybody’s a photographer. Millions photos makes it easy to forget that he
of images are uploaded to the Inter- begins each assignment as a stranger
net each day, mainly to Facebook and to his subjects. Does he have a special
Instagram. We have pretty sunsets, gift for self-effacement, a chameleon-
staged food and smiling selfies to last like way of blending in?
an eternity. “Great photo!” friends “The people in these photos can’t
enthuse online. isolate themselves with walls and doors,
But a great photo is more than just a the way people in the West do,” he says.
captured moment. As Roger LeMoyne’s “In a refugee camp, lives are more
work shows us, a great photo serves as porous, more open. And people in
a portal to another time and place, extreme poverty have bigger things to
opening eyes and hearts by sensi- worry about than a guy with a camera.”
tively bearing witness. It speaks of, At day’s end, LeMoyne returns to a
and to, the world. guest house and dinner. He’s keenly
LeMoyne is a 66-year-old Montrealer. aware of his own good fortune, but
He studied cinema at Concordia Uni- other emotions complicate his grati-
versity and, in 1985, took a self-financed tude: frustration, anger, humility and
trip to Papua New Guinea. He sold pho- awe in the face of the human capacity
tos from that trip to Destination, a travel to endure.
magazine of the day. A few years later, “The world’s inequality wasn’t lost
in Manhattan, he walked into a UNICEF on me as a young person,” he says, “but
office on a whim. There, his portfolio with all our advances, it’s stunning that
earned him his first commission, to we still haven’t addressed the core
shoot in Niger. He has since worked in issues—nutrition, security, clean water.
40-odd countries, recording poverty, It staggers the mind that during the
migration and human-rights abuses. three decades since I started this work,
Last fall, UNICEF sent LeMoyne to the world has become not a better place,
document the humanitarian crisis in but an even more unfair one.”
76 june 2021
A mother registering
her children for
school in a camp
in Mweso.
rd.ca 77
reader’s digest
78 june 2021
Clockwise from top left:
A Congolese soldier
pushes a motorbike
laden with produce; a
boy carrying firewood
for cooking fires; Roger
LeMoyne (right) with
his UNICEF driver,
Michel Uyterrhaegen;
children greeting
visitors in a camp in
Bunia, Ituri Province;
a view of a camp on the
outskirts of Fataki, Ituri
Province; nurse Ange
Amani provides a lesson
on nutrition at a health
station run by UNICEF
NGO partner Heal Africa
in Kizimba, North Kivu.
rd.ca 79
reader’s digest
80 june 2021
I handed her the flowers.
“You shouldn’t of!”
WORD PLAY she said.
I took them back.
“Have,” I whispered.
— @ISCOFF
Trick Question
Q: Which word becomes
shorter after you add
two letters to it?
A: Short.
— ABIGAIL OGLE, newscaster
rd.ca 81
HEART
GOLDEN
YEARS BY Mark Angus Hamlin FROM THE GLOBE AND MAIL
illustration by genevieve ashley
when your mother enters her ninth hill to the family cottage in Gatineau,
decade, you make a point of being her mental faculties seem to have
a little extra vigilant for any signs of remained largely intact. But when she
decline—memory loss, bouts of repe- got inked after turning 80 last Septem-
tition, a general acceleration of age- ber, I had to wonder.
related deterioration. To celebrate Mom’s landmark birth-
Thankfully, my mother has been day, we were planning a large party,
blessed with good health, and although but then, of course, everything had to
she now needs to take someone’s arm be cancelled because of COVID-19.
while walking slowly up and down the After all, her entire social circle is high
82 june 2021
reader’s digest
risk, composed as it is of septuagenar- turns out, she had barely spent any
ian and octogenarian friends from her time alone, after hiring a taxi driver to
book (wine) club, her garden (wine) show her around Istanbul for a few
club and her church. days. He took her to all the sites—the
Instead, we arranged a small outdoor souks, mosques and restaurants. He
family lunch on the deck at the lake. introduced her to a rug vendor, “a lovely
My mother looks just like many fellow,” and she bought some rugs.
grandmothers. She is short, plump and The vendor had taken her address
white-haired. She’s rosy-cheeked details and promised to ship them to
and jolly, and when she laughs her Canada. They would be arriving in
eyes almost seem to disappear behind three or four weeks. My mother
those chubby cheeks. She comes from beamed as she told this story. The rug
an old, traditional Catholic family in vendor and my mother apparently
Ottawa, where she currently lives. She struck up quite a friendship and she
was a career civil servant, first in had told him to please drop by if he
England and then in Canada. In short, were ever in Canada.
she didn’t do crazy stuff.
That all changed a few years ago. She
began to surprise my older brother and SHE’D BOOKED A
me with bouts of what she described SEVEN-NIGHT TRIP
as “independence.” At the time, we TO TURKEY. ALONE.
merely saw them as examples of irre-
sponsibility and possibly age-related BECAUSE SHE HAD
questionable judgment. NEVER BEEN.
In early 2015, the year she turned 75,
she informed us she’d booked a seven-
night trip to Turkey. Alone. Because We couldn’t believe how naive she
she had never been. Of course, that had been and duly sat her down to
was absurd. There was no way my explain that she had been duped. The
brother and I could allow that. A vul- vendor had her money (and plenty of
nerable, little old lady wandering the it, as she had declined to haggle). She
streets of Istanbul on her own, not neither had nor would she be receiving
speaking a word of Turkish, with no any rugs. And, of course, she had no
knowledge of the laws and customs of possible recourse.
the land—it was out of the question! Well, we were wrong.
She paid no attention to us. Off she To our great shock, her rugs did
went. When she returned, she told us arrive some weeks later, along with a
it had been a wonderful success. As it lovely note from Mustafa. To our even
84 june 2021
greater surprise, the following year My brother and I eyed each other.
Mustafa himself arrived in Canada. He Was she joking? Recent history would
called our mother to inform her he was say no. What the heck does Mom know
in Ottawa. about tattoos? She goes to church,
“I invited him over and he came by not to tattoo parlours. And really, an
for a cup of tea. They drink a lot of tea 80-year-old woman going to a tattoo
in Turkey,” my mother told my horri- parlour during a pandemic? It seemed
fied brother and me. so absurd we really didn’t believe it.
She hardly knew this man! But Six days later, she had a very tasteful
again, she paid us little attention and butterfly on the outside of her left ankle.
told us to stop being silly. My brother and I wondered: Is she
At 77, she did a similar thing while on not thinking straight? And if so, is it
a Caribbean cruise with her younger because she’s getting on a bit? But
sister. Upon disembarking in Cuba, she while my brother and I worried about
wandered off on her own, flagged down her, Mom showed us that she was still
a motorcycle rickshaw and had the sound of mind. In fact, maybe she’s
driver “show her around the island” for thinking straighter than most of us.
several hours. Of course, she neglected Her streak of independence seems to
to inform her sister of her plans (“she be thoughtfully based on a realization
would have worried”), causing my aunt that life is to be lived, and when there’s
to spend the entire afternoon searching relatively little of it left, it needs to be
for our mother. My aunt didn’t find her lived, well, now. It reminded me of the
until Mom returned just before the ship line from The Shawshank Redemption:
was due to depart. She had been sam- “Get busy living or get busy dying.”
pling a local drink with “some very nice Like most of us during the pandemic,
Cubans” at a bar “somewhere off in the she has spent lots of time away from
forest, just a shack of a place, really.” many of the people she loves. The tattoo
Still, her 80th birthday was when she was her way of flipping 2020 the bird.
really outdid herself. Sitting on the cot- And we couldn’t be prouder of her.
tage deck for a physically distanced, I don’t think Mom knows what her
outdoor birthday lunch with her sib- next big “thing” is. She’s a little old lady
lings and children, Mom informed us who sits in her apartment in Ottawa,
that she had decided the time had but she won’t sit still much longer.
come to get a tattoo. Her first. It would Sure, she’s prone to folly, though
be her 80th birthday present to herself. maybe that’s what we need right now.
She had been thinking about it for Some pointless, wonderful folly.
some time, apparently, and her mind © 2021, MARK ANGUS HAMLIN. FROM “A TATTOO FOR
TURNING 80?,” THE GLOBE AND MAIL ( JANUARY 5, 2021),
was made up. THEGLOBEANDMAIL.COM
rd.ca 85
EDITORS’ CHOICE
86 june 2021
reader’s digest
88 june 2021
but that felt a bit hasty. Sometimes I memories made my version of things
didn’t think about Meryl at all, some- less dubious. It had been a long time,
times I thought about her a lot, but if ever, since I’d felt that I was a reliable
the one constant was that she was keeper of the past.
safely situated in the past. This one- We caught up on our adult lives, too,
text-away Meryl was very present, and as we texted back and forth. She still
I proceeded with caution. worked as a florist, as she had when
As we texted back and forth over the we’d last spoken. And she’d stayed in
next few days, Meryl was the first to the same Ontario town she’d moved
relax into randomness, describing a to when she married, and raised her
bird or tree outside the window of her three daughters there. Still in the same
home, or remembering some old boy- house, it is now yellow.
friend or other. We lingered on the soft Our moms were a steady topic. They
pillow of nostalgia but didn’t smother were both 91 and both living. Or, to put
ourselves with it. it another way, they were both 91 and
The memory-syncing part was cool both dying. My mom had just lost the
and mysterious. When Meryl men- part of her mind that would have
tioned the Tea Room on top of the remembered our childhood, while Viv-
Grimsby escarpment, a rickety stick ian was in her right mind but couldn’t
building suddenly appeared in my talk properly after a recent stroke
mind. It was made of logs, wrote Meryl, affected her speech. Our mothers’ con-
and the Tea Room stopped wobbling. nection to each other, separate from
Giving it shape together made our Meryl and me, was mostly invisible to
memories, if not free of falsehood—we us growing up, but it was a subterra-
both tilted toward the positive—then nean current in our lives. Meryl was
at least real. The magnificent magnolia the first person I texted when my
tree at Livingston and Main needed mom collapsed, and after she died, I
no prompting: Big! Bold! Pink! But remembered that I hadn’t asked about
more satisfying than putting Grimsby Meryl’s father, Clayton, a handsome,
back together again was that Meryl’s broad-shouldered man with a head of
rd.ca 89
reader’s digest
thick black hair. Clay died 12 years ago, train that gets you in at 5 on Friday ...
wrote Meryl. Is it a GO train or a real train? —which
On March 15 at 7 p.m., 11 days after was when I realized how old we’d
Mom’s funeral, Meryl and I had the become. Of course, I lost her at Union
Phone Call. Our first phone call, I’ll Station. Where are you?!? … I am here!!
mention again, in 20 years. I was ner- … Where is here?? Cue 15 more texts
vous enough to think of texting that until I saw Meryl across the chaos of
I was sick, or tired, or sad—at least two the station’s endless renovation. Her
of which were true. I called Meryl from head leaned left like the first time I
under my covers, and she answered saw her. We laughed as we hugged and
from under her covers, and we picked mostly stared at each other on the sub-
up where we’d left off. Neither of us way until we got to my house.
finished our sentences, instead let- After a night in Toronto, our plan
ting our thoughts dangle dementedly. was to return to our childhood home-
“I just think … Here’s what I’d say town. The next morning, we took the
about that … My strong feeling there bus to Grimsby, about two hours away.
is…” Our conversation would have been The sun was high and bright but gave
mind-numbingly inane to anyone else, no heat. We walked past the giant pink
but we understood each other. We’d magnolia tree, now severely pruned,
grown up in the same place, we saw and bought flowers to put on Meryl’s
things the same way, we didn’t need to father’s grave, which was on the escarp-
explain ourselves. ment. We walked the path to the top,
That Meryl and I were moving irre- and just as we called out our hous-
vocably toward the Meeting filled me es—“there, there”—like we did when
with unease. We chose the weekend we were kids, two red-tailed hawks
of April 25, when she was to arrive by circled overhead, their tails turning
train at Union Station early on a Friday golden in the sunshine. They cocked
evening. There were at least 15 texts their heads to look at us, as if we were
about the time of this arrival—Meryl, I the unexpected ones. Meryl took the
woke up thinking you should get the hawks as a sign, I wasn’t sure of what.
90 june 2021
(PHOTOS) COURTESY OF CATHRIN BRADBURY; (PHOTO FRAMES) ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/KEMIE
rd.ca 91
reader’s digest
get at the truth. Also, I didn’t care about could I have forgotten that? I racked
being right the way some people did, my brain for a new subject.
that was the simple fact. Meryl looked at me calmly. I was
“When I saw the hawks today, I kind beginning to suspect that I was the pan-
of thought it was your mom and my icker, not she. “No, I want to,” she said
dad, protecting us.” after a while. “I mean, I never have, but
“I love that,” I said, but really I was I want to now.”
having a hard time concentrating. It We both paused then, and I thought
hadn’t been a plan, exactly, to talk about about the part of the story I knew. It
that long-ago night, but after 24 hours would have been a couple of years after
of conversation, it had begun to seem the creek-bed climb. Meryl was 14, and
pathologically evasive not to. Forty- she took enough pills to die. Vivian
five years had passed, enough time per- rushed her to the hospital, barely in
haps to finally broach the subject. time to save her life.
“So I guess there are a couple of “Things weren’t great at home in that
things we haven’t talked about this time, you’ll recall,” Meryl said finally.
weekend. Like that night?” She looked me straight in the face
Meryl didn’t change the subject so and waited. “Yeah,” I said, although I
much as make her way toward it, ahead didn’t really recall, or perhaps only
of us in the distance. “Remember the faintly. We’d finally acknowledged the
time we climbed the mountain by thing we’d never discussed. We’d said
the creek bed? We would have been 12 out loud that it had happened, and that
or so. I remember that.” was enough. That was plenty.
“I think so.” I saw the faintest sparkle “You weren’t depressed or anything,”
of a creek as I dabbed my finger at a I said.
lingering crumb. “We don’t have to Meryl kept looking at me, until she
talk about that night.” seemed to make a decision to leave it
Talking about difficult things was there. “I often think if my mom hadn’t
not who we were, Meryl and me. Not come to my room and asked me if I
talking was what bound us, even. How wanted pizza, I’d be dead now. I often
92 june 2021
wonder about that.” She looked down she felt kind of funny. “Cool,” I’d said,
at her lap, then up again at me. “And and went back to watching Star Trek or
your mother was very kind in that time. whatever was on TV. But as we talked
She tried to help me, after. She took me on our shaky bar stools, what happened
to see a priest and told me I could talk after that call took on more shape.
to her anytime.” “I’m pretty sure my mom told your
“I remember being mortified that mom, and that’s why Vivian went into
she took you to a priest, of all things.” I your room.” My words seemed to ring
rolled my eyes, which made me wob- out, although I was speaking quietly.
ble slightly on my bar stool. “No, that’s not how it happened,”
“I think maybe I’m more religious Meryl said, and I might have left it
than you are now.” Meryl let me absorb there because she’d been right about
this new idea of her before she contin- everything else. “It was dinnertime.
ued her story. “Your mom taking me My mom thought I was hungry.” Meryl
to a priest was an act of concern. There smoothed her napkin on her lap and
wasn’t therapy or anything remotely spoke again without looking up. “How
like that. It was a private, shameful would your mom even have known?”
event. Even now, it’s a shameful event. My heart was pounding. I was get-
No one, not even you and me, Cath- ting in the way of how Meryl remem-
rin—we never talked about it.” It wasn’t bered that night, but my words were
exactly an accusation. too fast for me. “She knew because
I skated over the fact that it had taken when I hung up the phone, I told her,”
me almost five decades to mention that I said, and I knew that it was true.
night and instead went back to what I Even though, at 15, I’d made hiding
knew: that Meryl had called me and told things from Mom a defining purpose
me she’d taken pills from the medicine of my teenage life, I must have under-
cabinet. I thought she was trying to get stood that Meryl’s life, and in a way
high, our steady preoccupation once mine too, depended on my telling
we became teenagers, and asked her if Mom, because what might life have
it felt good. She said it did, but also that been if my best friend had died that
rd.ca 93
reader’s digest
night—on my watch? Not great, was “I’m proud of myself, how I rallied,”
my guess. Now, sitting side by side Meryl said. It was a statement, for both
with Meryl, I wasn’t only sure that my of us. “It took longer than people real-
memory of that night was accurate, I ized.” All weekend I’d been carrying
cared that it was. around the idea that I needed to take
“If that’s true, then it was your mother care of Meryl, and in that moment, I
who saved my life,” Meryl said. She let it go. She didn’t need looking after
looked directly at me. “If that’s true, by anyone.
then it was you who saved my life.” Back at my house, we put on our
“Well, you called me, so I guess you mothers’ pyjamas, as we’d agreed we
saved your own life.” would. We were both wearing our
We both took time to settle after that. mothers’ clothes a lot at this point. I
I became so lost in my thoughts that wore Mom’s red and black silk muu-
when I looked at Meryl again, I was muu with its massive flapping arms.
surprised to see her still sitting beside This muumuu had been her sister
me. She looked like she’d wandered a Mary’s, and Mom never washed it
long way too. because it smelled of Mary and now I
94 june 2021
when Meryl sat with Vivian and asked ordinariness was this hugeness, like
her, “Mom, did you come to my room Meryl said.
that night because Mrs. Bradbury had Six weeks after Meryl’s visit, Vivian
called you?” And my mom locked eyes died, and it was remarkable how that
with me, her eyes wide and so much midtown bistro conversation hap-
pain in them, and she didn’t have the pened when it did, exactly between
words, but she nodded yes. Meryl the deaths of our mothers. It changed
wrote this to me right away. To have things for Meryl and me after that—if
this talk finally when she could no lon- only we could have told our moms.
ger talk. It was strange, Cathrin. It was Meryl would have asked Vivian to for-
sad. It was huge. give her and told her how glad she was
I read the note from Meryl in my to have lived that night. And I’d have
kitchen and started to cry, my tears told Mom that I finally understood
plopping onto the round white table. she had been my ally in important and
It sounds dramatic to say that, because even life-saving ways. My idea of her
getting the details right about that changed, but not only that, a new idea
long-past night was simple enough. of myself began to take hold, a more
Mom, Vivian and I would have done reliable, less rickety one, like the Tea
anything to save Meryl, so it didn’t Room on the escarpment. I noticed
matter who told whom. But knowing something begin to grow in myself. A
that it was all four of us, and that Viv- voice, maybe.
ian and Meryl had been able finally
EXCERPTED FROM THE BRIGHT SIDE, BY CATHRIN
to nod that truth to each other? And BRADBURY. COPYRIGHT © 2021, CATHRIN BRADBURY.
PUBLISHED BY VIKING CANADA, AN IMPRINT OF
knowing for sure that I hadn’t gone PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE CANADA LIMITED.
REPRODUCED BY ARRANGEMENT WITH THE
back to my Star Trek show. Beside the PUBLISHER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Greatest Weakness
Cell phones are so convenient that they’re an inconvenience.
HARUKI MURAKAMI, NOVELIST
rd.ca 95
reader’s digest
reader’s digest
BOOK CLUB
THE CREEP
by Michael LaPointe
$23, PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE
96 june 2021
has stumbled upon the story of a life-
time. Rubicon, a flashy biotech arm of Get More RD
a sprawling conglomerate, has devised
a formula to produce synthetic blood
for transfusions, potentially saving
FOR FREE!
thousands of lives. It seems too good
to be true—and it is. Soon, Whitney is Sign up for the Daily
unravelling a nefarious global con- Digest newsletter.
spiracy and learning the gruesome
truth about this liquid concoction. All More laughs, more health
the while, a vengeful magazine fact- advice, more housekeeping
checker lurks on the periphery, threat- hacks and brainteasers—and
ening to uncover Whitney’s own his-
tory of professional misconduct.
more, more, more! A roundup
of our top stories, every
why you’ll love it: Like all high- morning in your inbox.
velocity thrillers, this one is loaded
with grisly twists and outlandish sce- rd.ca/newsletter
narios. But it also taps into the fears
that linger in all of our newsfeeds: the
unchecked power of corporations,
the reliability of our news media, the
murky ethics of biotech innovations.
Whitney, meanwhile, is a great addi-
tion to the pantheon of charmingly
unlikable characters, those enigmas
who skate the line between lovable
and deplorable. She’s droll and canny,
with a hard-shelled knack for self-
preservation, yet she’s always locked
in a desperate battle against her own
worst instincts. The novel builds as
much tension around her seemingly
inevitable relapse as it does around the
macabre blood experiments at Rubi-
con. It’s eerie, sharp and a little zany—
the perfect escapist read for a rainy
cottage weekend.
reader’s digest
BRAINTEASERS
21 14 19 23 4 8 22
1 to 25 24 1 20
Moderately difficult Move the
numbers from the outer ring
onto the board. Each number 3 18
must be placed in one of the five
cells that lie in the direction 17 9
indicated by its chevron. The
(1 TO 25) JEFF WIDDERICH; (MATHELOGICAL) FRASER SIMPSON; (FAVOURITE THINGS) EMILY GOODMAN
numbers must snake together 13 5
vertically, horizontally or diago-
nally so they link in sequence
from 1 to 25. (For example, 2 6 12
must be adjacent to both 1 and
3.) There’s only one solution. 25 15 16 11 2 7 10
Can you find it?
98 june 2021
Trains
Moderately difficult This map
shows Luisa, her destination 80 km
and three train routes she can 60 km
take to get there. Each segment 50 km
of track has a different speed 30 km
limit, indicated by the speeds A 120 km/h
shown. The distances of each 15
segment are indicated by B 0
km
their colours and the legend
C 10
0k /h
m/
to the right. Presuming that h
120 km/h
90 km
each train always goes at the
10
0
top permitted speed and
km
h /
/h
doesn’t stop anywhere along
the way, which route (A, B or C)
120 km/h
is the fastest?
Dominoes
Easy A standard double-six set of 28 dominoes has been arranged in a rectangle.
Can you draw in the lines to show the placement of the dominoes? We’ve listed the
28 dominoes so you can cross them off as you find them.
(TRAINS) SUE DOHRIN; (DOMINOES) FRASER SIMPSON
rd.ca 99
reader’s digest
rd.ca 101
reader’s digest
7 5 4 3
6
9 8
2 1 5 3
Mathelogical 3 9 6 8
2 4 9
7 8 6
5 3 1
6 5 2 4
Favourite Things
4 9
Amar likes to zip-line,
Oriana likes to kayak,
1
Rosa likes rock climbing
and Brodie enjoys cook-
4 8 2 7
ing lessons.
To Solve This Puzzle
Trains
Route A, which will take Put a number from 1 to 9 in
70 minutes. each empty square so that: SOLUTION
1 3 7 2 8 4 6 9 5
Dominoes )every horizontal row and 6 5 2 9 3 7 1 4 8
vertical column contains all 9 8 4 5 6 1 2 3 7
nine numbers (1-9) without 4 9 1 7 2 3 5 8 6
repeating any of them; 2 7 8 6 5 9 3 1 4
3 6 5 4 1 8 9 7 2
rd.ca 103
reader’s digest
CROSSWORD
DOWN
BY Barbara Olson 1 TikTok or Trello
2 Grassland
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 3 Like Jody Wilson-
Raybould, politically:
10 11 Abbr.
4 About-the-author bit
12 13 5 For kicks and giggles
6 Andrews role Maria von
14 15 16 ___
7 Alley-___
17 18 19 8 Like a chocolate teapot,
it is said
20 21 22 9 Tam pattern, often
13 Mac rivals
23 24 25 26
16 Tokyo, before 1868
17 Send off, as Christmas
27 28
cards
29 30 31 32 33 34 18 Neighbour of Greece:
Abbr.
35 36 19 Canadian funnywoman
Lara
37 38 20 Suffix with “robot”
and “hero”
21 Boozy, gooey sponge
ACROSS 17 Guy’s dwelling? cake
1 Crime cover story? 20 Slanted writing: Abbr. 24 “So gross!”
6 Extol the virtues of 22 Come ___ surprise (be 25 ___-Wan Kenobi
10 With ___ hand (poised expected) 26 Brit’s “boob tube”
to sign) 23 Thoughts jotted about 30 Deflating sound?
11 Noted bus rider Parks one’s dwelling? 31 “Yabba dabba ___!”
12 Dwelling liable to tear in 27 Part of RSVP 32 Newsman Hanomansing
the wind and get soggy 28 “Honest” US prez 33 Texter’s “ta ta”
in the rain? 29 Really, really old dwelling? 34 Ship’s pronoun
14 Jason Kenney’s grp. 35 ___ for life (joie de vivre)
15 Smartphone network std. 36 Very reluctant (to) For answers, turn to PAGE 102