A 226-yard, 10-catch receiving performance - the best of any receiver in the Canadian Football League this season - made Edmonton Eskimos slotback Adarius Bowman a nobrainer for the league's offensive player of the week.
Bowman made big plays every time he was called upon in the Eskimos' 23-20 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Friday night's regular-season finale. He scored two touchdowns for the Eskimos to lead them to victory.
On Monday, Bowman said that he had moved past the best game of his CFL career.
"We're just focused on Calgary right now," he said, anticipating the Eskimos' playoff opponent on Sunday. "It was a great week and I enjoyed everything, but we've got to stay focused, man, it's just win. That's the only way we can stay up here now. That's the only thing we're focused on."
"He stepped up and played a big game for us," Eskimos quarterback Ricky Ray said of Bowman. "Really, those first two touchdowns, to catch that long one really got the team going.
"We just weren't really doing much offensively and that was a big play for us. That (second) one where he broke a couple of tackles and got it into the end zone, that just really fires you up as a football team and you could see the momentum kind of going in our favour then. That's what you need to have. You have to have those plays to get guys excited."
When Damon Duval told Derek Schiavone the news, Schiavone thought he was being told a joke.
"Showing up 20 minutes before the game it hit. Derek, we were on the drive (to Commonwealth Stadium) and I looked at him and kind of laughed and said, 'You're not going to like this right now but you might have to play today,'" Duval recalled. "He asked what was wrong and I said, 'I think I'm getting a kidney stone.' "
Schiavone filled in well, making all three of his field goals against the Riders on Friday night, including a game-winning 27-yarder in the final minute of play to lift Edmonton to a 23-20 win. The victory secured the Eskimos their first home playoff game in seven years.
"I thought he was just joking because it was a little cold out," Schiavone said of how he handled Duval's news. "You could tell he was in pain the moment he got in here. At that instant, I started to get ready, just in case."
Duval has a history of kidney stones. The stone he passed at 4: 30 a.m. on Saturday morning was the fifth he's dealt with.
"Thanks, Dad," Duval said. "Unfortunately, these things can be hereditary and he's had over 40 in his life so far."
Duval said the pain of passing the stones is as bad as advertised.
"Have you ever been on a long trip where you had to pee so bad and they won't pull over and let you pee and it starts hurting?" Duval asked. "Well, imagine that magnified by about 100 and that's how it feels.
"There's just no letup. It's just a constant writhing that starts in the lower back and you can feel it as it starts going from the kidneys, making its way through your bladder. The good thing is once it gets in your bladder, for the most part, the pain kind of alleviates and then a lot of pressure and then just, ploop - out comes the stone.
"They give you a little strainer and you just urinate in the strainer and when you hear the ding, you know you're a lucky guy and you've won the game."
The 30-year-old father of two young boys has kept the stones he's passed to teach them what was happening with him.
"They didn't understand," he said. "I kept it so they could see what it was. The reality, it really looks like a little BB and unfortunately that little thing can bring that much pain."
2011年11月8日星期二
2011年8月7日星期日
Kiwis offer home out of jail for Colombians
Two Colombians arrested after entering the country illegally could be out of jail in a week, thanks to the offers of kind-hearted Kiwi families.
Maria Oliva Rosas Peralta, 64, and John Gerardo Medina Fuentes, 33, were arrested in June after using fake passports to come to New Zealand.
Rosas Peralta was scrubbing floors to fund an operation for her 10-year-old son, who cannot walk properly because he has a deformed leg, her lawyer Kevin Smith said.
She was told New Zealand was "the land of milk and honey".
Last week, both Colombians were sentenced to nine months' jail for possessing and using fake passports, and were due to spend half that time in prison before being deported.
If a suitable home were found, they could be granted home detention and would have to spend only about two weeks here before deportation could be organised.
Several families from Lower Hutt to Auckland contacted The Dominion Post after reading about Rosas Peralta's story.
Other families contacted Mr Smith directly and he said yesterday that a family in Upper Hutt had offered to take in Medina Fuentes as well.
Today he will make an application to have the two prisoners released to the Upper Hutt family's residence. He hopes his client and Medina Fuentes could be out of prison in about a week.
Mr Smith said he had been surprised by the response to Saturday's story. "I had been doing the rounds asking for help. They've got nothing, just the clothes they stand up in."
For Lower Hutt couple Maree and Kevin Crighton, reading about Rosas Peralta's plight reminded them of their own experiences in Bogota, the Colombian capital. Their son has lived there for four years with his girlfriend and the Crightons said Colombians had always shown them kindness. "They just embrace people, you know – when we were staying with the girlfriend's family, we were treated like part of the family."
Mrs Crighton said it was "a pretty sad crime" that Rosas Peralta had committed. "I can't understand why she thought she could find work when she didn't speak English. It's such a long way to travel."
Mr Smith told the district court last week his client could not speak English, and had spent her time in Tawa's Arohata Prison in self-imposed solitary confinement, depressed and suffering from kidney stones.
Whanganui woman Joy Clark said reading Rosas Peralta's story gave her nightmares. Ms Clark has a son with special needs who is the same age as Rosas Peralta's son who needs a leg operation, and she could not bear the thought of her not being able to contact her family. Whether or not Rosas Peralta came to stay with her, Ms Clark planned to offer assistance any way she could.
Maria Oliva Rosas Peralta, 64, and John Gerardo Medina Fuentes, 33, were arrested in June after using fake passports to come to New Zealand.
Rosas Peralta was scrubbing floors to fund an operation for her 10-year-old son, who cannot walk properly because he has a deformed leg, her lawyer Kevin Smith said.
She was told New Zealand was "the land of milk and honey".
Last week, both Colombians were sentenced to nine months' jail for possessing and using fake passports, and were due to spend half that time in prison before being deported.
If a suitable home were found, they could be granted home detention and would have to spend only about two weeks here before deportation could be organised.
Several families from Lower Hutt to Auckland contacted The Dominion Post after reading about Rosas Peralta's story.
Other families contacted Mr Smith directly and he said yesterday that a family in Upper Hutt had offered to take in Medina Fuentes as well.
Today he will make an application to have the two prisoners released to the Upper Hutt family's residence. He hopes his client and Medina Fuentes could be out of prison in about a week.
Mr Smith said he had been surprised by the response to Saturday's story. "I had been doing the rounds asking for help. They've got nothing, just the clothes they stand up in."
For Lower Hutt couple Maree and Kevin Crighton, reading about Rosas Peralta's plight reminded them of their own experiences in Bogota, the Colombian capital. Their son has lived there for four years with his girlfriend and the Crightons said Colombians had always shown them kindness. "They just embrace people, you know – when we were staying with the girlfriend's family, we were treated like part of the family."
Mrs Crighton said it was "a pretty sad crime" that Rosas Peralta had committed. "I can't understand why she thought she could find work when she didn't speak English. It's such a long way to travel."
Mr Smith told the district court last week his client could not speak English, and had spent her time in Tawa's Arohata Prison in self-imposed solitary confinement, depressed and suffering from kidney stones.
Whanganui woman Joy Clark said reading Rosas Peralta's story gave her nightmares. Ms Clark has a son with special needs who is the same age as Rosas Peralta's son who needs a leg operation, and she could not bear the thought of her not being able to contact her family. Whether or not Rosas Peralta came to stay with her, Ms Clark planned to offer assistance any way she could.
2011年5月25日星期三
Cancer patient puts trust in God, alternative medicine
Bryan Harper, 48, of Florence, keeps a quote by former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt on the wall by his desk at Midway Motors in Hillsboro.
“We do not have to become heroes overnight,” Roosevelt said. “Just a step at a time, meeting each thing as it comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering we have the strength to stare it down.”
Harper said that is his approach to cancer.
In mid-February he said he was feeling fine, but one day there was blood in his urine. He thought that perhaps he had passed a kidney stone, but thought it was odd that he hadn’t had any pain. After he drank a glass of water, the problem cleared up.
His urine was bloody again the next day. When he passed a blood clot, he decided it was time to see a doctor. The doctor couldn’t find anything wrong with him, but scheduled an appointment with a kidney specialist three days later.
The next day Harper’s stomach started hurting, and he went to the emergency room when it became too severe. That’s when he got the news. A scan showed two softball-sized masses on his left kidney.
“I couldn’t believe I had kidney cancer,” he said. “I never hurt a day before.”
Doctors removed the affected kidney a couple of days later. He felt fine recovering from the surgery.
“I’m just glad it wasn’t in both of them (kidneys),” Harper said. “It’s one of those things, you can live with one.”
However, about a week later a full-body scan showed the cancer had spread to both of his lungs.
“It’s pretty devastating news,” he said.
His doctor told him modern medicine has no cure for the kind of cancer he has. Radiation and chemotherapy can slow the progression of the cancer, but can’t stop it. Harper said he was grateful the doctor was straightforward with him. Since the news, he has continued to work at the car dealership.
“I’m not going to do chemo and radiation,” Harper said. “It won’t cure it.”
He said he had seen his father wither away while undergoing treatment for incurable cancer, and he didn’t want to follow that path.
“It’d be pretty easy to curl up in a corner, but that’s not me,” Harper said.
Instead, he is following a regimen of spiritual healing and herbal remedies. The healer he is working with has had success with other cancer patients, using diet and herbs intended to strengthen the immune system in conjunction with prayer. The diet he is on precludes pork, wheat and flour products, soda, and refined sugars.
“Cancer survives 100 percent on sugar,” he said.
Meanwhile Harper has been eating more fruits and vegetables. He said sticking to the diet is tough but possible.
“You can do it,” he said. “It’s doable, but I have to bring lunch.”
Harper trusts that with faith and determination, he can defeat the cancer.
“The Lord has given me a temple,” he said, referring to his body.
Harper said that there isn’t anything he could have done differently, except possibly getting expensive full-body scans on a regular basis. He doesn’t smoke, tries to eat healthy, is active, and has had regular physicals.
He said he plans to face the problem head-on.
“I’ve always believed you look fear in the eye,” Harper said. “Fear can be conquered.
“I know a lot of people think I have a death sentence,” he said. “It’s not a death sentence; it’s a reality check.”
Nobody lives forever, he said. He would prefer to live to see old age rather than succumb to cancer now, and he is doing what he can to fight it. But he isn’t afraid of death.
“I have no regrets so far in life,” Harper said. “It’s been good.”
“We do not have to become heroes overnight,” Roosevelt said. “Just a step at a time, meeting each thing as it comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering we have the strength to stare it down.”
Harper said that is his approach to cancer.
In mid-February he said he was feeling fine, but one day there was blood in his urine. He thought that perhaps he had passed a kidney stone, but thought it was odd that he hadn’t had any pain. After he drank a glass of water, the problem cleared up.
His urine was bloody again the next day. When he passed a blood clot, he decided it was time to see a doctor. The doctor couldn’t find anything wrong with him, but scheduled an appointment with a kidney specialist three days later.
The next day Harper’s stomach started hurting, and he went to the emergency room when it became too severe. That’s when he got the news. A scan showed two softball-sized masses on his left kidney.
“I couldn’t believe I had kidney cancer,” he said. “I never hurt a day before.”
Doctors removed the affected kidney a couple of days later. He felt fine recovering from the surgery.
“I’m just glad it wasn’t in both of them (kidneys),” Harper said. “It’s one of those things, you can live with one.”
However, about a week later a full-body scan showed the cancer had spread to both of his lungs.
“It’s pretty devastating news,” he said.
His doctor told him modern medicine has no cure for the kind of cancer he has. Radiation and chemotherapy can slow the progression of the cancer, but can’t stop it. Harper said he was grateful the doctor was straightforward with him. Since the news, he has continued to work at the car dealership.
“I’m not going to do chemo and radiation,” Harper said. “It won’t cure it.”
He said he had seen his father wither away while undergoing treatment for incurable cancer, and he didn’t want to follow that path.
“It’d be pretty easy to curl up in a corner, but that’s not me,” Harper said.
Instead, he is following a regimen of spiritual healing and herbal remedies. The healer he is working with has had success with other cancer patients, using diet and herbs intended to strengthen the immune system in conjunction with prayer. The diet he is on precludes pork, wheat and flour products, soda, and refined sugars.
“Cancer survives 100 percent on sugar,” he said.
Meanwhile Harper has been eating more fruits and vegetables. He said sticking to the diet is tough but possible.
“You can do it,” he said. “It’s doable, but I have to bring lunch.”
Harper trusts that with faith and determination, he can defeat the cancer.
“The Lord has given me a temple,” he said, referring to his body.
Harper said that there isn’t anything he could have done differently, except possibly getting expensive full-body scans on a regular basis. He doesn’t smoke, tries to eat healthy, is active, and has had regular physicals.
He said he plans to face the problem head-on.
“I’ve always believed you look fear in the eye,” Harper said. “Fear can be conquered.
“I know a lot of people think I have a death sentence,” he said. “It’s not a death sentence; it’s a reality check.”
Nobody lives forever, he said. He would prefer to live to see old age rather than succumb to cancer now, and he is doing what he can to fight it. But he isn’t afraid of death.
“I have no regrets so far in life,” Harper said. “It’s been good.”
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