The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 23, 2006 - A3

Toddler waiting for treatment

By DUSTIN QUEZADA

THE PARENTS of Karissa Hall have cleared one hurdle, successfully getting her to see doctors at Alberta Children’s Hospital in June.

Now,. the determined

; young couple from Thorn- /

hill are trying to cope with the costs of follow-up visits to Calgary.

Karissa’ Hall is the 19- month-old who developed Hemangioma ~ a tumor.

made up of dilated blood - - vessels — on the left side of

her face and head. The diagnosis was con-

firmed at Vancouver Chil-

dren’s Hospital» when: Ka- ‘rissa was four, months old.

She was supposed to return to the hospital at 12 months °

buta clerical error meant she —

couldn't be seen until June 2006. .

That was seven months later than expected ~— enough for Celina Hall, Karissa’s mother, to’ opt ‘instead to pursue other options. =”

She was contacted by.

_ the, Calgary -hospital .just

three days after making an enquiry and -had an appoint- ment scheduled within two weeks,

Celina Hall was dismayed to find out from doctors there her daughter should’ ve been seen at four, six and 12. months of age. -

The doctors in. Vancou-

* ver told the Halls they didn’t

need visits in intervals — only at 12 months.

What’s more is that doc- tors in Calgary. believe be- cause. the clinic in Vancou- ver failed to. properly treat

project.

The company wants to build two pipelines from the Edmonton area to

Kitimat. .

. daughter.

Karissa, her tumor was able

to grow to its inflated size. “{The tumor] is one of the biggest they’ve’ seen,”

Celina Hall. said of the Cal- _gary clinicians.

The tumor — nine centi- metres in length and protrud- ing six centimetres — starts halfway up her cheek and

goes behind her ear and past » . her jaw bone. .

Karissa had what’s called infected ulceration of the Hemangioma, and doctors in Calgary believe if she had been treated with steroids

the tumor would not have

grown (o its current size. “ft-may not have shrunk

con

but it wouldn’t have gotten.

bigger,” said Celina Hall. If the tumor had stopped its growth, surgery may have

been an option but due to the -

its size, that avenue has es- sentially been ruled out be-, cause Karissa could bleed to

‘death.

Half the children who are born with or develop Hem-

angioma ‘in infancy — have

their tumors shrink by -the

age of five, while the other * ._ half simply see no change. ©

_ The.Halls (father Liam hopes: to’ accompany his ‘and wife) are scheduled to return to Cal- gary in October or Novem-

ber when doctors will gauge me.

the tumor’s size. “They’re hoping to see it-

’ shrink,” said Celina Hall. ' «Karissa will also undergo. “a magnetic resonance imag-

ing (MRI) test and, depend- _ ing on the results, will be re-

turning to the hospital in six’ °

months toayear. - |, Celina and Karissa’s

material

‘products.

One would import a thinning called condensate and the other. would export’ petroleum

Having a bulk port’ in Kitimat could mean fewer costs .when: it comes to transporting large seg- ments of piping, equipment and oth- er materials which will be needed to construct the roughly 1,200-kilome-

be

News In Brief

_KARISSA Hall was diagnosed with Hemangioma, which caused the tumor on her |

‘face, when she was four-months old. The tumor — nine centimetres in length and protruding six centimetres — has grown significantly.

- DUSTIN QUEZADA PHOTO ©

June visit came with finan- cial support ‘from local and regional service clubs. The

family is hoping that will re-.

peat itself but is also doing

MIKE LEFEBVRE

Foods store.

SO MUCH Mone IN STORE

Mike and Rose Lefebvre along with their three

children Matthew, Sarah and Mitchell are moving to Victoria. Mike has worked at Terrace Save On Foods eight of the past eleven years.

They will miss the great outdoors where their hobbies included fishing, soccer, golf, skiing and curling.. "We will miss the great community and all the great friends we've made in Terrace”.

Please welcome the new store Manager Darren Davies, his wife Colleen and their two children who will be coming here from Campbell River.

If you are ever in the Victoria area, please look up Mike at his new location i in the Saanich Save On

=

. on August 10th, you made. a difference by buying a — -Blizzard® Treat. Proceeds _. _. from every. Blizzard’ sold ~ were donated ‘to: your local.

"HANCYOU TRAC ; * for making this day so successful, i Our total for this year was

J 3099. 99

f) Children’s Miracte Network:

tre long pipelines.

“To have a facility like that will reduce costs, there is no doubt about it,” says Jim Russell, a senior En-* bridge official. “It could be very complimentary.”

A bulk product port would allow customers to ship large items such as piping, vehicles, lumber and other items that don’t fit into conventional

its own fundraising. ‘There is a trust account al ; the: Northern Savings Credit Union (either branch). Those:

wanting to make a donation

should mention Liam or Celina Hall in trust for Ka- rissa. Donation jars are also at Terrace Honda, Kristin’s Emporium and Wal- Mart.

‘Kitimat port, pipeline potentially very profitable

A SENIOR Enbridge pipeline — official says a potential bulk product port in the Kitimat area could save his company. a significant amount of money should it proceed with the proposed Gateway dual pipeline

" containers. ,

The Kitamaat Port Development Society -has undertaken a $774,000 study to determine the detailed costs - of establishing a break bulk port in ‘the Kitimat area.

The study is being paid for by the Haisla people of Kitamaat Village, the provincial government and nu- merous private investors.

Private eye to return A PRIVATE investigator from Surrey returns next month to continue his quest to find those behind the

disappearances of several svomen along Hwy 16.

Ray Michalko, who visited Terrace, Smithers and

_ surrounding areas in May, hopes to follow up on new

tips and talk to five people of interest when he travels » back here in the first couple wecks of September.

He plans to send out flyers to households in the northwest to help tweak peaple’s memories on the dis- appearances of Tamara Chipman, Lana Derrick and Ni- cole Hoar, three of the many women who have disap- peared along Hwy 16 between Prince Rupert and Prince | George in the last 15 years.

- Arrested for robbery

A MAN described as’ being from the Terrace and Calgary areas: has been arrested in connection with a bank: robbery i in Williams Lake.

RCMP in the Cariboo city Say Jason Hoekstra, 22, was arrested in Calgary following an investigation into’ the July 14 robbery of the CIBC bank in Williams Lake. They say a lone man entered the bank and gave a teller a note demanding cash.

RCMP say they identified a suspect with connec-

tions to the Calgary area and that a suspect was located there and arrested with the help of Calgary police.’As of:

late last week, Hoekstra, was in custody in Calgary. ti

~ Man jailed for assault

A MAN who forced a teen into a vehicle at knife

‘ point earlier this year has been sentenced in Terrace - Provincial Court..: °,

» Keith Christopher Lundy, 27, of Terrace plead guilty

to one charge of assault with a weapon and will serve | : four months in jail followed by one year of probation. A stay of proceedings was entered into the court re- ° cords for one charge of kidnapping with intent to con-

fine and one charge of uttering threats. On May ‘13, a 17-year-old man was forced into a ve- hicle after being confronted by three adult males at the

old Skeena bridge.

Police responded to. find the vehicle leaving the: scene and took three suspects*into custody.

Crown counsel Barry Zacharias said charges were not laid against anyone but Lundy, who was the main person who confronted the victim. .

Drive safely.

THREE SEPARATE motor vehicle accidents occurred,

in the Terrace area Aug..18.

At about 7:30 a.m., a vehicle with two occipants left the highway ‘about 30 km east of Terrace. Despite high _ speeds, both escaped: with no serious injury. At about 10:15 a.m., a single occupant vehicle rolled on Centen- nial Drive near Terrace. A nearby resident broke the window and helped the driver, who escaped with no injuries, out. At about 3 p.m., a car with two occupants rolled near Copper river on Hwy 16. Both are in the hospital and the accident is under investigation.