Partially paralyzed man fights to save Pioneer bar
Ravaged by rare disease, activist battles demolition in Pointe-Claire Village
Andrew Swidzinski has trouble walking now, and can barely hold his head steady for any length of time. Even the ability to swallow has become arduous.
The 33-year-old notary and community activist is now considered disabled, his body ravaged by a rare disease — Acute transverse myelitis — that attacked his spinal cord last August and left him clinging to life on a hospital ventilator for six months.
Despite the debilitating ordeal, Swidzinski has steadfastly remained engaged — from the confines of his hospital bed — in a feisty citizens-led movement to halt the demolition of the Pioneer bar and preserve the heritage of the iconic Pointe-Claire Village.
Even in his darkest hour at the intensive care unit of the Montreal Neurological Institute, with much of his upper body paralyzed, Swidzinski still found the strength to pen a speech that was delivered by his mother Linda Proulx- Swidzinski at a demolition appeal meeting in September. The moving proxy speech brought the crowd to its feet.
“I wrote that with the one hand, when I didn’t have the ability to talk because there was a period where I was not able to talk or swallow,” Swidzinski recounted.
“It took five hours because I could only write for so long.”
Swidzinski became disabled seven months ago after he was stricken with a polio-like illness, virtually overnight.
“I woke up Aug. 19 and I felt very tired. The next day I couldn’t move my arms. I was rushed from the Lakeshore to the neuro. Then I was in intensive care for four months and on a ventilator.”
His recovery has been slow and, so far, without miracle.
“My left arm is gone completely,” he said while undergoing therapy at Gingras-Lindsay Rehabilitation Institute in Montreal. “My right side, I can move my hand. I have to wear a collar brace to go anywhere now because I can’t stand and hold my head up for any length of time. My voice is not great because some of my vocal chords are paralyzed.
“As for mobility, I can walk a bit but I can’t do stairs or anything.”
But despite suffering partial paralysis, Swidzinski continues to help carry the flag for those who are trying to save the Pioneer from the wrecking ball and, from their perspective, the encroaching reach of urban densification that will lead to more condo projects they deem ill-suited for a historical village.
Claude Arsenault, former head of the Pointe-Claire Heritage Preservation Society (SSPPC), said Swidzinski’s devotion to community affairs has been inspirational. “What Andrew has done, and what he continues to do, is truly incredible.”
He said the indefatigable Swidzinski has come to symbolize the underdog role in an epic “David vs. Goliath” battle with city hall.
Although Swidzinski, a heritage advocate, would be forgiven if he were step away from the public arena to deal with more pressing health matters, he said the fight to save the Pioneer is now a calling he must see to its conclusion.
“It was important for me to continue doing this and to continue what I started. I also feel it’s an important cause.
“The way I see it, some people say the Pioneer is just a bar, but once it goes down, the parking is lost, the (condo) project goes up, and I honestly believe the village is going to end as we know it, and as I knew it all the years I went there growing up.
“I want to see it to the end one way or another.”
Swidzinski, vice-president of the SSPPC, has also proven a valuable ally to those opposing the Pioneer demo. He was responsible for presenting the demo committee an independent evaluation of the parking lot adjacent to the Pioneer that appraised its value at $1,150,000, more than $300,000 above what the city has conditionally agreed to sell it to the condo developer.
Afterward, Arsenault accused the city of holding a “fire sale” of municipal property.
The city has since commissioned another appraisal of the parking lot.
Swidzinski recently circulated a notarized deed showing the Pioneer was sold in January to Koebra Development for $450,000, less than half its municipal evaluation of over $900,000. (The original purchase offer was higher, but was revised for unspecified reasons, according to developer Greg Koegl).
With his own notarial career now in jeopardy and still coming to terms with a new life as a disabled person, Swidzinski vows to carry on, even if doctors are uncertain of a fully recovery.
“The answer is the doctors don’t know,” he said. “Everything they know about how this disease and how it manifests itself, about a third of people never recover. About a third have partial recovery and a third recover completely, although
Once it goes down, the parking is lost, the (condo) project goes up, and I honestly believe the village is going to end as we know it.
it’s rare anything is gained after six months. No one really knows and there is no cure or treatment for it.
“It’s physiotherapy and hope for the best.”
Will he be able to attend the demolition committee meeting this Thursday (7:30 p.m.) at city hall?
“I’d like to, but we’ll see.”