Health Heroes

These Canadians are inconspicuously making the world a healthier place

BY JILL BUCHNER THESE SEVEN AMAZING PEOPLE are dramatically improving the health of Canadians, but it’s possible you’ve never even heard of them all. You won’t find these health heroes wearing capes – most don’t even wear white coats. Still, they’re incredible. And they’re Canadian.

When an NHL player says he wants to talk about mental health, guys listen – especially young ones. After Vancouver Canucks forward Rick Rypien committed suicide in 2011 following a long struggle with depression, his pal and teammate KEVIN BIEKSA took the gloves off to help eliminate the silence surrounding mental illness. Bieksa teamed up with mindcheck.ca, a mental health resource for young adults, to produce a video encouraging Canadians to learn the signs of mental illness. “Pretending it doesn’t happen doesn’t help,” he says. “Talking about it does.”

Runner JASON DUNKERLEY overcame his visual impairment to become a five-time Paralympics medallist. But as he was winning his bronze medal at the 2008 Games in Beijing, his wife, Colleen Hayes, was being diagnosed with progressive kidney disease. Dunkerley put running on hold to donate one of his kidneys to her in Ottawa earlier this year. In doing so, he brought the need for organ donation into the public eye. He writes on his blog: “Something like this makes you realize [running] isn’t everything, that life and health and being there for your loved ones matter far more.”

DR. DOUGLAS MAHONEY has been doing everything he can to outsmart cancer. His team at the University of Calgary is harnessing the power of viruses to both attack tumour cells and engage the help of the immune system, giving it a chance to recognize and cure the disease. “I’m interested in discovering new ways we can trick these tumour cells to die…in response to a virus,” says Mahoney, who is using the viruses in tandem with drugs to ensure they kill the cancer before the body’s immune system kills them.