These students overcame adversity
Four B.C. recipients honoured for showing courage in academics, athletics and civic life
Rabiah Dhaliwal is only 18, but she’s already lived through a very tough period in her life.
“I had a bit of trouble during my childhood years that I had to witness,” she said. “I developed PTSD and a major depressive disorder, and had some major anxiety issues as well. I was in the hospital for a month-and-a-half.
“I went back to (Panorama Ridge) school, but things were still kind of hard for me. Later on when I was on a field trip I went through anaphylactic shock and almost lost my life, so it was kind of a hard year in general.”
She’s also had problems with concussions — she’s had five. The last one left her discouraged, but when she recovered, “I decided to turn everything around.”
“I told myself enough is enough,” she said. “Things are going to keep happening, but you have to keep moving forward and do the best you can.”
Rather than dwell on her health issues, the Surrey resident decided to become active in the community.
“In my Grade 12 year I started a blood-donation club at my school in partnership with the Canadian Blood Services,” she relates.
“It was an initiative that allowed students, teachers and parents of my school to donate blood. During the weekly blood drive, I would send taxis and transportation to the school, and they would transport the students to the local clinic, and then back to the school.” But that was just the beginning. “I also helped organize a stem-cell swabbing event at a local temple in January or February for a young boy who had leukemia, to try and find a stem-cell match for him,” she said. “He’s South Asian, so we had it at the local temple and tried to recruit as many donors as possible. It’s hard to find a lot of South Asian donors, especially males, so we did that, and had it at a few temples.”
That’s not all. Dhaliwal’s mom works for Fraser Health in a medical behavioural unit at Surrey Memorial Hospital. So Dhaliwal put together a video about what the unit does to try and get a $70,000 grant — and, lo and behold, they got it.
Dhaliwal’s remarkable humanitarianism in the face of adversity has made her one of 20 recipients of this year’s Terry Fox Humanitarian Award. Six-hundred-and-fifty-seven students across Canada applied for the award, which is granted to students “who have demonstrated courage and determination through their excellence in academics, athletics and civic life.”
Four B.C. students received the award: Dhaliwal, Monica Hsu of Burnaby, Jordyn Heal of Victoria and Luke Harris of North Vancouver.
Hsu’s mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer when Monica was in Grade 10. Hsu became her main caregiver until her mother died the following year.
As a Taiwanese immigrant, Hsu saw the problems her mom faced with not only cancer, but also language issues. She founded a Stand Up to Cancer Club at her school, and volunteered at Vancouver General Hospital.
Heal also went through a family tragedy when her stepfather committed suicide in 2016. Heal became a committed mental-health advocate, founding a group called Youth VIA Mental Health. She also was head delegate at the Model UN Club at Stelly’s Secondary School in Saanichton, and co-founder of the Central Saanich Community Association Youth Council.
The Fox award is valued at up to $28,000. Heal will be using it to enrol in Montreal’s McGill University this fall, studying biology and international development. Hsu will use her award to study science at the University of B.C., while Harris will be taking engineering at UBC. The 18-year-old will also be joining the UBC Thunderbirds track team, which is quite a feat, given what he’s gone through.
“I was a high-level runner — I was running at the national level, I was fourth in Canada (in my age group) in the 800 metres at one point,” he said. “But I was diagnosed with two bone tumours in my lower leg and had to get them removed. I’ve been working on recovery over the last few years to get back to the level I was at.”
When he started training again, he ran with a boy with special needs, Ges Bushe.
“I guided him through the first parathletic cross-country championship,” said Harris.
“He was a huge inspiration to get back running — he really inspired me to work on getting back. (But) I was kind of disappointed because there weren’t a whole lot of parathletes out.
“I knew from other volunteers there were a lot more parathletes from across the province who would love the opportunity to represent their schools, so I started an initiative called Running for the Health of It to get more kids involved.”
Getting the initiative going really drove home how hard Terry Fox worked to launch his Marathon of Hope in 1980. Harris marvels at how Fox basically ran a marathon a day.
“Training as I do is completely insane and incredible to do on two legs, let alone one,” he said. “I’m really honoured that I was given this award.”