Radio Haney Maple Ridge diff erent by default. p6 Council to decide on Harris Rd. pool. p13 Gardening The return of the bud bloomers. THE NEWS p33 www.mapleridgenews.com Friday, September 17, 2010 · Serving Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows · est. 1978 · 604-467-1122 · 50¢ Story by Robert Mangelsdorf ornings for Dave Ius are bitterly slow. M After overcoming the Seeking crushing fatigue that attempts to pin him to his bed, he walks cautiously from his bedroom into the nearby kitchen in his small one-bedroom apartment liberation in Maple Ridge, grasping at the walls and counters to steady himself. His hands shake. His legs shake. His eyes struggle to focus on his surroundings. “Everything is methodically planned out,” he says, sighing as he carefully lowers himself into a chair, then digs into a yogurt container full of granola, his fingers trembling as they clumsily clutch the spoon. Ius suffers from multiple sclerosis. Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS See MS, p3 Dave Ius is going to Cabo San Lucas for a new MS treatment not available in Canada. Girl gang-raped at Pitt rave 16-year-old boy arrested farm at 12993 Harris Road, Fri- about this victim and the tak- live in the home had allowed day night. ing and subsequent sharing two young men to use the prop- for distributing pictures A 16-year-old boy was arrested of photos depicting this rape erty for a party, for which they Tuesday for distributing child is disgusting, morally corrupt charged $10 in advance and $15 by Monisha Martins porn. and criminal,” said Sgt. Jennifer at the door. staff reporter He allegedly took photographs Hyland, the offi cer in charge of The registered owners of the of the rape on his cell phone and Ridge Meadows RCMP’s serious property who own lots of farm- distributed them to friends, who crime unit. land in Pitt Meadows said they Photographs of a girl being then posted them to Facebook. Police knew the party was set had no idea the party. raped at a Pitt Meadows rave Police have fi led a report to to take place and checked on the Contributed See Rape, p10 are spreading across on the In- Crown for charges against him, event Friday night, but found RCMP Sgt. Jennifer Hyland and Insp. Derren Lench speak ternet. which have yet to be laid. nothing amiss. at a press conference about a rave in Pitt Meadows The 16-year-old was gang- The gang-rape and distribu- A previous party called “A MR where a 16-year-old girl was gang-raped. Police want raped in fi eld by fi ve to seven tion of graphic photographs has night in Bangkok” had been NEWS Online anyone who attended the rave to contact investigators men – some adults and other shocked even seasoned investi- hosted at a barn on the same For video, visit so they can get a clear picture of what happened at the teens – at “Another Night in gators. property two weeks before. www.mapleridgenews.com event and afterwards. Bangkok,” a party held on a “The very public discussion Police said the people who Index Opinion 6 Radio Haney 6 Parenting 30 Acts of Faith 32 Home&gardening 33 Community Calendar 55 Scoreboard 61 ‘Problem is plumbing, not electrical’ MS from front company with offi ces in Vancouver While his mind has remained that specializes in medical tour- sharp, his body has turned against ism, estimates that more than 98 him. The disease triggers the per cent of the company’s business body’s auto-immune system, forc- has come MS sufferers seeking the ing it to attack the body’s nervous liberation procedure, with more system, specifi cally the protective than 200 customers fl ying to Costa covering that wraps around the Rica for the treatment in the past nerves of the central nervous sys- few months. tem, called the myelin sheath. “By Christmas, I imagine we’ll He is one of close to 75,000 Cana- have had around 600,” says Sem- dians with the disease – one that ple. presently has no cure. He has personally witnessed 40 Though not considered fatal it- patients undergo the procedure, self, the disease can cause chronic and has seen the positive results pain, bowl and bladder failure, fi rst hand. muscle spasms and speech diffi cul- “I’m not a snake oil salesman,” ties. says Semple. “I have to manage “It isolates you,” says the divorced people’s expectations somewhat, father of three. “I have a lot of fam- because this is not a cure.” ily, so I’m one of the lucky ones, but Although the procedure corrects some people with this disease, they the fl ow of blood draining from the aren’t so fortunate.” brain, it does nothing to remove Suicide is not uncommon for MS the iron deposits themselves. sufferers as their symptoms wors- “When someone who was bound en and they lose control of their to a wheelchair gets up and walks, own body. you can’t tell me that it’s a placebo However, a new medical proce- effect,” says Semple. “I’ve seen dure is providing hope for some miracles.” MS sufferers, like Ius, but whether However, clinical trials in Canada that hope is founded remains to be could still be years away. seen. While Zamboni’s initial fi nd- Developed by Dr. Paolo Zamboni, Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS ings, published in the Journal for a professor of medicine at the Uni- (Above) Steve Robinson, left, and Dave Ius both have MS and meet regularly to discuss it; (below) Robinson’s T-shirt. Vascular Surgery last December, versity of Ferrara in Italy, the new concluded that the pilot study war- treatment, called “the liberation furthest thing from your mind.” about it. In the back of his mind, ranted a subsequent randomized procedure,” represents a radical As Ius grew older, the episodes Ius suspected it might be MS. His control study, the Canadian Insti- departure in how MS is under- became more frequent, and more sister Teresa had suffered from MS tute for Health Research decided stood. frustrating. for years. two weeks ago it was premature According to Zamboni’s theory, A feeling like an electrical pulse “I was in denial,” he says. to conduct such clinical testing in the auto-immune response is trig- would shoot down his legs periodi- But when, at the age of 26, Ius was Canada. gered by iron deposits in the brain. cally. His fi ngers would go numb, fi nally diagnosed with the progres- Constricted veins in the neck, par- and he would experience a sensa- sive form of the disease, all he felt ticularly the internal jugular and tion like a large belt being pulled was relief. azygos veins, prevent blood from tight around his midsection. He “It was a huge relief to be diag- “There was unanimous properly draining from the brain, began having trouble with depth nosed,” he says. agreement from the instead causing blood to pool, perception, and would suffer bouts He fi nally had answer and under- which in turn leaves the deposits of vertigo. standing of what was happening to scientific experts that it is of iron. As a competitive athlete, the ef- his body. premature to support pan- Zamboni dubbed the condition fects became apparent whether he “But there wasn’t anything they “chronic cerebrospinal venous was boxing, skiing, playing base- could do for me.” Canadian clinical trials on insuffi ciency”, or CCSVI, and its ball or tennis. Thanks to the liberation proce- the proposed liberation treatment, which was fi rst per- “I’d be playing tennis, and I dure, for the fi rst time Ius says he formed on his own wife, is rela- would swing at the ball, but it was has hope for recovery, as well as procedure.” tively simple. Similar to an angio- two feet in front of me,” he says. “I an understanding of the disease plasty, the liberation procedure didn’t know what was happening itself. Dr. Alain Beaudet, CIHR president involves infl ating a small balloon to get his life back. to me.” But while the procedure is con- inside the constricted vein to clear “I started crying,” Ius says of By the time he was 17, his life was ducted in private clinics in more the blockage and allow for proper when he fi rst learned of the proce- falling apart. than 40 countries worldwide, and is “There was unanimous agree- drainage. dure nearly a year ago. “I couldn’t Working as a joinery apprentice available through the public health ment from the scientifi c experts In Zamboni’s initial trial, which believe it. It fi t so perfectly, and in the shipyards of the North Shore, care system in Kuwait, it is current- that it is premature to support was neither controlled, nor ran- made perfect sense.” he began accidently hitting himself ly unavailable in Canada. pan-Canadian clinical trials on the domized, 65 MS patients underwent Ius was eight years old when he in the hands, and once fell down an In order to undergo the proce- proposed liberation procedure,” the procedure, with more than 70 fi rst noticed his symptoms. It was open stairwell. A skiing accident dure, Ius is paying close to $15,000 said Dr. Alain Beaudet, CIHR pres- per cent showing decreased MS early summer, and he was play- shredded the ligaments in his left to fl y to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico to ident. symptoms. ing in the front yard of his family’s knee.