It’s game on for smallest Mountie
Heart of the city: Casey Wright and fellow youngsters are making their mark, and helping others
BRAIN GAIN: Vancouver Canucks fans shared the pain when goalie Roberto Luongo was injured in the first period of a late- December 2- 1 win over the Winnipeg Jets. But few had a more informed sense of peril than Casey Wright, 13, who has dealt with cancer all his life. At age three, his brain tumour was rated “inoperable.” That view had to be reviewed a year ago, when blindness began. After daring surgery at BC Children’s Hospital removed the tumour, a stroke paralyzed his right side. Months of rehab followed, during which the RCMP named him its first civilian honorary staff sergeant major. The world’s smallest Mountie watched the Canucks game from suites where Steve Funk hosts youngsters struggling to make lemonade of the lemons fate throws them. As for the post- tumour space in his brain, “There’s room for more personality,” Casey said.
BOTH SIDES NOW: Chase Getz didn’t wait for his stroke. He was born with his right side paralyzed. Now, with his brain remapped , there’s little sign of the disability. But Chase, 5, has given Children’s Telethon organizers a stroke, too — of luck. That’s because he and brother Kai ask for contributions, not gifts, at their birthdays. They also run lemonade and hot chocolate stands, and urge others to help them generate their age in thousands of dollars to aid stricken youngsters. Given results so far, the total should hit $ 272,000 when they’re 16. FLYING HIGH: Sibling co- operation is the theme of Emily Carr University masters student Bree Galbraith’s Once Upon A Balloon, which began as a class project. Illustrated by Isabelle Malenfant, the book has a boy advise his younger brother that a fly- away party balloon and thousands more will be retrieved by a lonely overnight worker in Windy City Chicago. The brothers then release another balloon with an encouraging message. The book itself will launch this afternoon at Collage Collage, the Kingsway- at- 15th children’s art facility and store. STICKING HIS NECK OUT: Wall Financial Corporation founder Peter Wall habitually adds offbeat elements to the year- end Wall Ball he hosts. In 2012, a full- grown ostrich strutted around. It was guests’ necks that stiffened in 2009, when a miniskirted female elf and Santa paraded above them on the ballroom’s glass ceiling. One year later, Holstein cows lumbered between tables. For the recent running, with Premier Christy Clark at his table, Mayor Gregor Robertson at nephew Bruno’s, and 50- poundslighter deputy premier Rich Coleman nearby, Wall canned the circus acts. Instead, Helen Bergen and a mixed- voice choir of Manitoba Mennonites carolled their way to the Hallelujah Chorus.
“We made a bit of money this year, so why not spend it on friends?” Wall said as the no- charge, no- auction event began. He’d also spent a bundle to help youngsters. That was when he financed and condo marketer Bob Rennie provided the staff and space to show photos from this column and raise some $ 160,000 for The Sun’s Raise- A- Reader and Adopt- A- School programs. FORTUNE SMILED: Pender Street sidewalks were thronged during Chinatown’s late- night restaurant era. They still are, in the block below Main Street at least. That’s where longtime deejays Garret Louie and Rob Rizk’s Fortune Sound Club has been packed since it opened. For the joint’s fourth anniversary recently, lineups were longer than ever. STICK ’ EM UP: Those missing Maeve Doyle’s Irish sizzle on the local arts scene may find her off London’s Portobello Road in the Bankrobber gallery. Owner Robin Barton raised eyebrows recently by getting $ 1.1 million for a mural by graffiti artist Banksy that had mysteriously disappeared from a streetside wall. Doyle has British and international clients to pay up to $ 70,000- per for Banksy prints and others by fellow Englishman Damien
Hirst, who once encrusted a platinum-crafted human skull with 8,601 diamonds worth $ 26.5 million. “I love London. I am the least eccentric person here,” said Doyle, who is no slouch in that regard. PLAYING IT AGAIN: Sax- playing bandleader Dal Richards’ 96th birthday comes Sunday. Before birth- year 1918 ended, two million died on First World War battlefields and some 30 million more in a global flu epidemic. Richards might have expired in the 1939- 1945 war had the loss of an eye at age nine not precluded military service. But the remaining eye was good enough for reading music. After debuting in 1937, Richards still plays more moneymaking gigs than many would envy. Freebies, too. For alma mater Magee secondary’s centennial concert May 24, he’ll arrive in Ron Tremblay’s equally vigorous 1914 Ford Model T cabriolet. BILLIONAIRE BURLESQUE? Mining mogul Frank Giustra was bullish on bullion in April 2013. “If I am wrong, if this gold bull market is over,” he said, “I will stand in the centre of Robson Square and I will sing Patsy Cline’s So Wrong, wearing ladies’ underwear.” By Dec. 31, bullion was down 28 per cent on the year.