Reader's Digest

The basement became one

of the most legendary labora-

tories in the history of rock.

Here, the group created the

quasi-field recordings and

oddball ditties that became

known as The Basement Tapes.

Here, they composed their

first record, 1968’s Music From

Big Pink, including one of

the most indelible songs in the

American pop canon, “The

Weight.” They then defiantly

renamed themselves the Robertson and members

Band, mainly because that’s of the Band jam at the
what everyone in Woodstock fabled Big Pink studio.

called them.

If Robertson’s discovery of rock and true voice of the group. Robertson

roll had been a big bang, now, at long and Helm vied to be the soul of the

last, he had formed his own galaxy. Band—or at least to be recognized as

such. As the Band became more and

A YEAR LATER, the Band cut their self- more successful, the question of who

titled sophomore record, and it too was responsible for that success

contained instant classics, including became an issue.

“Up on Cripple Creek” and “The Night Robertson had written fewer than

They Drove Old Dixie Down.” The songs half the songs on Big Pink—Manuel

sounded like hymns written in the back- was the other principal songwriter—

room of a 19th-century saloon, boogie- but by the Band’s third album, Stage

woogie ballads. They were woven from Fright, he was writing all of them. Ini-

©DAVID GAHR/MAGNOLIA PICTURES each of the group’s different singers, tially, the Band had shared the pub-

and no voice seemed more central than lishing royalties equally, but by their

another. This was part of the Band’s sixth studio album, 1975’s Northern

secret, Helm said. Lights–Southern Cross, Robertson had

It would also be its undoing. bought out Manuel, Danko and Hud-

Despite their ostensibly democratic son’s ends. He had written these songs,

configuration, the story of the Band so why shouldn’t he get paid for them?

soon became, as it did for so many At least this is how Robertson tells

musical acts, the story of who was the it. In 1993, Helm published his own

rd.ca 49

reader’s digest

memoir, This Wheel’s on Fire, a rollick- the one who wanted the Band to con-
ing, occasionally vitriolic tell-all that tinue,” he said. “I was the one who was
praises Robertson in one paragraph the driving force in this group, and I
and excoriates him in the next. “The drove it and I drove it until there was
old spirit of one for all and all for one nothing to drive anymore.”
was out the window,” Helm wrote.
“Resentment just continued to build.” He didn’t care if I believed him, or
what other people said. They weren’t
That resentment spilled over when there. And they aren’t here now. Except
Robertson proposed, in 1976, after for the reclusive Hudson, Robertson is
seven studio albums, that the Band the only original member still alive. He
stop touring, regroup and figure out was the one who’d survived, he was the
what to do next. He was tired of the one who got the last word, and here he
road, which he’d never liked much to was getting it again with me. He insists
begin with. Plus, he was plotting his that he made peace with Helm before
next move, which he hoped would be he died in 2012. “I thought to myself,
the movies: producing them, writing what all he and I did together and all
music for them, starring in them. the things we came through and the
music we made and this life experi-
He befriended Martin Scorsese, a ence, nothing can compete with that.”
man who loved music as much as Rob-
ertson loved movies. They agreed that It must be strange to be an elder,
Scorsese would film the Band’s last though, at this point in rock’s history,
concert, to be held at the Winterland when so many of your musical broth-
Ballroom in San Francisco, where ers are no longer with you and others
they’d played their first show. “The Last are blinking in the twilight. It must be
Waltz,” as Robertson referred to the strange when, like Robertson, you talk
show, was electric, transcendent and and talk about the past, and the stories
joyous, and the ensuing movie is among from the past keep informing the story
the best concert films ever released. of the present. Robertson didn’t see it
Afterward, Robertson refused to tour that way. “My natural mode is moving
with the Band again and would never on, moving on, moving on,” he said.
again make a record with them. “What I’m doing with my life has to do
with today and tomorrow. So these
ROBERTSON KNOWS he’s been vilified. things, it feels good to go there because
But he’s a guy more inclined to self- I don’t go there very often.” That wasn’t
mythologizing than self-reflection. I quite true. It was another story. But I
asked him how it felt to be known as sat and listened.
the guy who had put the Band together
but who had also torn it apart. “I was © 2019, JASON McBRIDE. FROM “ROBBIE ROBERTSON’S
LAST WALTZ,” TORONTO LIFE (NOVEMBER, 2019),
TORONTOLIFE.COM

50 november 2020

LAUGHTER Cashier: That’s an
avocado.
the Best Medicine
— @CASHMAN

If I were Maria in The In Bad Taste Protect Your Home
Sound of Music and I A vegan said to me, I saved a lot of money
heard them sing “How “People who sell meat on a home security sys-
Do You Solve a Problem are gross!” tem by hanging a pic-
Like Maria” at my wed- ture of my paycheque
ding, I would be like, I said, “People who on the front door.
“Why are you singing sell veggies are grocer.”
that mean song about — ADELE CLIFF, comedian — @TBONE7219
me, and why do all of
you know it?” The Power of Youth My sunglasses are pre-
I admire how when scription so if they’re
— @BROTIGUPTA babies don’t want to stolen, it becomes two
hold something any- people who can’t see.
I didn’t know how to say more, they just drop it.
“pigeon” in Japanese, — @KIMTOPHER22
so I just said “bird of — @MIXEDMEDIAPAPER
garbage,” and I think I Send us your original
got the point across. Avocadon’t jokes! You could earn $50
Me: I’ll take this and be featured in the
— @UNBURNTWITCH goth pear. magazine. See page 9 or
rd.ca/joke for details.

MARK BENNETT THE BEST JOKE I EVER TOLD

By Darryl Purvis

I’m from the East Coast and my family wanted me to
date a nice East Coast woman, which isn’t easy living
in Toronto. That’s why I think there should be a dating
website just for people from the Maritimes. They
could call it We Used To Have Plenty Of Fish.

Find Purvis online at DarrylPurvis.ca, or
on Twitter and Instagram @dpurcomic.

rd.ca 51

HEART

ThCroooukginhg
Grief Afterherhusband
died, my mother-
in-law found solace

BY Wendy Litner in sharing his
favourite meals
illustration by emily press

52 november 2020

reader’s digest

MY MOTHER-IN-LAW tells me she’s “But I add an extra layer of cheese,”
coming over, so I lock the front door. she tells me.
My four-year-old twins stand with their
hands and faces pressed against the That’s the kind of person she is—the
window. Their excited breath fogs up kind to go rogue with cheese when
the glass, and they write their names the situation calls for it. She’s also the
to pass the time. I need to keep them kind of person who continues to care
inside—it’s early April and Toronto is for her loved ones while in the middle
in lockdown. I know they won’t be able of deep personal grief.
to resist hugging their grandmother
without being restrained. In January, Carol lost her husband
of 50 years. Yet each week she offers
“She’s wearing a mask,” I hear one meatballs, chicken soup or blueberry
whisper to the other as she gets out muffins—still warm from her oven—
of the car. inside of yogourt containers she sets
aside for such deliveries.
They’ve never seen such a thing, their
bubbe wearing a mask, and they’re CAROL AND MY father-in-law, Ron,
unsure, a little afraid. But as she gets were set up on a blind date in Decem-
closer, they see her holding a large dish ber 1966, while she was still in high
in her gloved hands and an old Tortuga school and he was studying engineer-
rum-cake box piled with cookies. ing at the University of Toronto. Two
and a half years later, they married and
“Is that for us?” the boys ask. eventually had four kids. Even later in
She puts it down on the porch as the life, when I met them, their partner-
boys hold up their drawings for her to ship was filled with the joyful energy
see through the door. Her bright eyes of a good hora and the soulfulness of
are still visible, and you just know she’s a mezinke—the dance performed at
smiling under her N95. Ashkenazi weddings when a youngest
We are grateful to have dinner child is married off. The mezinke was
brought to us tonight. A crisis really done at my wedding to their fourth,
calls for a casserole. And a global pan- and last, child. I can still vividly
demic forcing us to isolate at home remember seeing Ron and Carol on
indefinitely? That calls for Carol’s the dance floor wearing floral crowns
broccoli-cheese casserole, with its and big smiles, encircled by friends
layers of melted cheddar, mushroom and family clapping and singing and
soup and soft vegetables, sprinkled celebrating them.
with bread crumbs. It’s a recipe she
learned at a cooking class hosted by a When Ron died, Carol took great
synagogue sisterhood 45 years ago. comfort in the Jewish tradition of

rd.ca 53

reader’s digest

shiva, a week-long period of mourning broccoli and cauliflower, chopping
where people visit the family home of them into florets, dividing them into
the deceased. She’s always been a four separate dishes for the families of
social person, collecting people like her four children.
the dozen dreidels displayed in the
glass case in her dining room. But “Do you steam the veggies first?” I
when COVID-19 struck, no one could asked her at one drop-off, although
be there by her side any longer. what I was really asking was: how are
you doing this? How are you grieving
Meanwhile, she feels Ron’s absence in such uncertain times without even
every day in their apartment. At meals, the comfort of being surrounded by
his seat at the table is empty. He’s not the people who love you?
on the balcony to share a cup of coffee
as she watches the city go by. And he’s “Yes,” she says. “Just enough to
not on the couch next to her at night to make them soft.”
watch a show on television. But, she
tells me, since she made all their meals Then she tells me she’ll be dropping
for them when he was alive, she still a kugel off later in the week. My boys
feels connected to him when she will savour the sweet forkfuls of pasta
cooks. And so, she cooks. and ricotta. I will too, even though I’m
lactose intolerant, because the con-
“I talk to him while I cook,” she says. stancy of her deliveries eases the stress
“I’m making kugel now and I’ll say, and anxiety of trying to raise small
‘Ronnie you loved this kugel. You loved children during a pandemic.
putting sour cream on this kugel. Too
much sour cream. I’m sorry you won’t From Carol I’ve learned that grief is
be here to eat it.’” love and love is food and none of that
stops just because we are all separated,
I FIND MYSELF thinking about Carol by quarantine or more. We still eat and
alone in her kitchen, preparing food. I we still love and we still mourn.
think about all the steps that go into
making the casserole. I imagine her This is what I want to tell my boys
standing over the counter, grating the when they ask where their zeda has
cheese, and then the extra cheese, gone, and why is their bubbe standing
opening the soup cans, washing the so far away. Instead, I give them muf-
fins. And as they peel off the heart-
paper wrappers, I tell them, “Bubbe
made those specially for you.”

Still Reigning

In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this.

TERRY PRATCHETT, AUTHOR

54 november 2020

WORLD WIDE WEIRD

BY Suzannah Showler

pierre loranger Frog in Your Throat and drifting across I Believe I Can Fly
In June, one lucky bid- lanes on Highway 15 On three occasions this
der took home Sir Isaac near Ogden, Utah, in past summer, Songshan
Newton’s meditations May, he expected to Airport in downtown
on causes and cures find a driver who was Taipei allowed 60 pas-
for the common plague. either severely sengers the chance to
The manuscript, which impaired or having a check in, collect their
sold for $108,083, is medical emergency. boarding passes, clear
believed to have been Instead, Morgan dis- security, wait at their
written shortly after covered a five-year-old gate and board a China
Newton returned to boy perched on the Airlines Airbus. The
Cambridge after nearly edge of the driver’s seat, plane’s destination?
two years in self- his feet barely reaching Nowhere. The groups
quarantine to avoid the the pedals and his head were the lucky winners
plague. The document just clearing the dash- of a contest that let peo-
is unlikely to be of board. The child, who ple role-play a day at
much use during the had taken the keys to the airport—satisfying
current pandemic, the family car while his their nostalgia for a
however: it includes, teenage sister was nap- time when air travel
among other things, a ping and driven three was still a fun and easy
prescription for driving kilometres across town prospect. Once the
away disease with loz- before getting on the passengers boarded,
enges made from a freeway, later told baf- though, their trip came
mixture of toad vomit fled officers that he was to an anticlimactic end.
and powdered toad. planning to make it to After being greeted by
California and buy flight attendants, buck-
On the Lam(bo) a Lamborghini. While ling up and sitting on
When Trooper Rick he only had $3 in his the tarmac, fantasy
Morgan pulled over wallet, he was, at travellers deplaned and
an SUV going about least, driving in the went home.
51 kilometres per hour right direction.

rd.ca 55

reader’s digest

DRAMA IN REAL LIFE

Sky Fall

oWhnehnisWaplltaenreO,ssitpaofilf,,slepaarvianchguhteimcaught
dangling high above San Diego, his
only hope was a daring mid-air rescue.

By Virginia Kelly
rd.ca 57

reader’s digest

I t began like any other May morn- started to toss out the last cargo con- PREVIOUS SPREAD: (PORTRAIT) COURTESY OF RICK LAWRENCE; (PLANE) AP/SHUTTERSTOCK; (GRAPH PAPER) MAYTAL AMIR/SHUTTERSTOCK;
ing in California. The sky was tainer. Somehow, his backpack para- (CLASSIFIED DOCUMENT) REDDAVEBATCAVE/SHUTTERSTOCK; (GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT) ARCHIVE.ORG
blue, the sun hot. A slight breeze chute’s automatic-release cord became
riffled the glistening waters of San looped over the cylinder, and his chute
Diego Bay. At the naval airbase was suddenly ripped open. He tried to
on North Island, all was calm. grab the quickly billowing silk, but
the next thing he knew, he had been
At 9:45 a.m., Walter Osipoff, a sandy- jerked from the plane—sucked out
haired 23-year-old Marine second lieu- with such force that the impact of his
tenant from Akron, Ohio, boarded a body ripped a 76-centimetre gash in
DC-2 transport plane for a routine para- the DC-2’s aluminum fuselage.
chute jump. Lieutenant Bill Lowrey, a
34-year-old Navy test pilot from New Instead of flowing free, Osipoff’s open
Orleans, was already putting his obser- parachute now wrapped itself around
vation plane through its paces. And the plane’s tail wheel. The chute’s chest
John McCants, a husky 41-year-old avi- strap and one leg strap had broken; only
ation chief machinist’s mate from Jor- the second leg strap was still holding—
dan, Montana, was checking out the and it had slipped down to Osipoff’s
aircraft that he was scheduled to fly ankle. One by one, 24 of the 28 lines
later. Before the sun was high in the between his precariously attached har-
noonday sky, these three men would ness and the parachute snapped. He
be linked forever in one of history’s was now hanging some 3.5 metres
most spectacular mid-air rescues. below and 4.5 metres behind the tail of
the plane. Four parachute shroud lines
Osipoff was a seasoned parachutist that had twisted themselves around
and a former collegiate wrestling and his left leg were all that kept him from
gymnastics star. He had joined the being pitched to the earth.
National Guard and then the Marines
in 1938. He had already made more Dangling upside down, Osipoff had
than 20 jumps by May 15, 1941. enough presence of mind to not try to
release his emergency parachute. With
That morning, his DC-2 took off and the plane pulling him one way and the
headed for Kearny Mesa, where Osipoff emergency chute pulling him another,
would supervise practice jumps by 12 he realized that he would be torn in
of his men. Three separate canvas cyl- half. Conscious all the while, he knew
inders, containing ammunition and that he was hanging by one leg, spin-
rifles, were also to be parachuted over- ning and bouncing—and he was aware
board as part of the exercise. that his ribs hurt. He did not know then
that two ribs and three vertebrae had
Nine of the men had already been fractured.
jumped when Osipoff, standing a few
centimetres from the plane’s door,

58 november 2020

Lt. Col. John J. Capolino, a Philadelphia artist, painted this scene of Osipoff’s rescue in
the 1940s. It belongs to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia.

COURTESY OF U.S. NATIONAL ARCHIVES (PHOTO NO. 127-N-522950) Inside the plane, the crew struggled was walking toward his office when
to pull Osipoff to safety, but they could he glanced upward. He and John
not reach him. The aircraft was starting McCants, who was working nearby,
to run low on fuel, but an emergency saw the figure dangling from the plane
landing with Osipoff dragging behind at the same time.
would certainly smash him to death.
And pilot Harold Johnson had no radio As the DC-2 circled once again,
contact with the ground. Lowrey yelled to McCants, “There’s
a man hanging on that line. Do you
To attract attention below, Johnson suppose we can get him?” McCants
eased the transport down to 90 metres answered grimly, “We can try.”
and started circling North Island. A
few people at the base noticed the Lowrey shouted to his mechanics to
plane coming by every few minutes, get his plane ready for takeoff. It was
but they assumed that it was towing an SOC-1, a two-seat, open-cockpit
some sort of target. Meanwhile, observation plane, less than eight
Bill Lowrey had landed his plane and metres long. Recalled Lowrey after-
ward, “I didn’t even know how much

rd.ca 59

reader’s digest

fuel it had.” Turning to McCants, he metres off the ground. They made five
said, “Let’s go!” approaches, but the air proved too
bumpy to try for a rescue.
McCants and Lowrey had never
flown together before, but the two men Since radio communication
seemed to take it for granted that they between the two planes was impossi-
were going to attempt the impossible. ble, Lowrey hand-signalled Johnson
“There was only one decision to be to head out over the Pacific, where the
made,” Lowrey said later, “and that was air would be smoother, and they
to go get him. How, we didn’t know. climbed to 1,000 metres. Johnson held
We had no time to plan.” his plane on a straight course and
reduced speed to that of the smaller
OSIPOFF WAS HANGING plane—160 kilometres an hour.
BY ONE FOOT. THEY
HAD TO BE CAREFUL Lowrey flew back and away from
Osipoff, but level with him. McCants,
HE DIDN’T SMASH INTO who was in the open seat behind Low-
THE PROPELLER. rey, saw that Osipoff was hanging by
one foot and that blood was dripping
Nor was there time to get through to from his helmet. Lowrey edged the
their commanding officer and request plane closer with such precision that
permission for the flight. Lowrey simply his manoeuvres jibed with the swings
told the tower, “Give me a green light. of Osipoff’s body. His timing had to be
I’m taking off.” At the last moment, a exact so that Osipoff did not smash
Marine ran out to the plane with a hunt- into the SOC-1’s propeller.
ing knife—for cutting Osipoff loose—
and dumped it in McCants’s lap. Finally, Lowrey slipped his upper
left wing under Osipoff’s shroud lines,
As the SOC-1 roared aloft, all activity and McCants, standing upright in the
around San Diego seemed to stop. rear cockpit—with the plane still going
Civilians crowded rooftops, children 160 kilometres an hour, a kilometre
stopped playing at recess, and the men above the sea—lunged for Osipoff. He
of North Island strained their eyes grabbed him at the waist, and Osipoff
upward. With murmured prayers and flung his arms around McCants’s
pounding hearts, the watchers agon- shoulders in a death grip.
ized through the mission’s every move.
McCants pulled Osipoff into the
Within minutes, Lowrey and McCants plane, but since it was only a two-seater,
were under the transport, flying 90 the next problem was where to put him.
As Lowrey eased the SOC-1 forward
to get some slack in the chute lines,
McCants managed to stretch Osipoff’s

60 november 2020

body across the top of the fuselage, not before he heard sailors applaud-
with Osipoff’s head in his lap. ing the landing.

Because McCants was using both Later on, after lunch, Lowrey and
hands to hold Osipoff, there was no McCants went back to their usual duties.
way for him to cut the cords that still Three weeks later, both men were flown
attached Osipoff to the DC-2. Lowrey to Washington, D.C., where Secretary
then nosed his plane closer and closer of the Navy Frank Knox awarded them
to the transport and, with incredible the Distinguished Flying Cross for exe-
precision, used the propeller to cut the cuting “one of the most brilliant and
shroud lines. After hanging for 33 min- daring rescues in naval history.”
utes between life and death, Osipoff
was finally free. Osipoff spent the next six months in
the hospital. The following January,
Lowrey had flown so close to the completely recovered and newly pro-
transport plane that he’d nicked a gash moted to first lieutenant, he went back
in its tail 30 centimetres long. The to parachute jumping. The morning he
parachute, abruptly detached along was to make his first jump after the
with the shroud lines, immediately fell accident, he was cool and laconic, as
downward and wrapped itself around usual. His friends, though, were ner-
Lowrey’s rudder. This meant that Low- vous. One after another, they went up
rey had to fly the SOC-1 without being to reassure him. Each volunteered to
able to control it properly and with jump first so he could follow.
most of Osipoff ’s injured body still
dangling outside. Osipoff grinned and shook his head.
“The hell with that!” he said as he fas-
Five minutes later, Lowrey somehow tened his parachute. “I know damn well
managed to touch down at North Island, I’m going to make it.” And he did.
and the little plane rolled to a stop.
Osipoff finally lost consciousness—but THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN THE MAY 1975 ISSUE
OF READER’S DIGEST.

Things to Do

Everybody’s a mad scientist, and life is their lab. We’re all trying to experiment
to find a way to live, to solve problems, to fend off madness and chaos.

DAVID CRONENBERG

I can’t play bridge. I don’t play tennis. All those things that people learn, and I
admire, there hasn’t seemed time for. But what there is time for is looking out

the window.

ALICE MUNRO

rd.ca 61

reader’s digest

AS KIDS SEE IT

During a summer-camp My daughter got really George and why do we MIKE SHIELL
singalong around the into the baseball game keep cheering for him?”
campfire, I grabbed my we’d attended, doing all
guitar and accompan- the chants. One of the — WHATTOEXPECT.COM
ied the kids. After five cheers has horn-tooting
or six songs, I asked, followed by yelling Just after my son turned
“Okay, what should we “Charge!” After doing three, his little sister
sing next?” this with me for almost was born. He was
half the game, my delighted to see her but
One 10-year-old daughter turned to me didn’t really know what
requested, “A cappella.” and asked, “Who is a newborn baby was
like. He observed her
— GEORGE HEROUX

62 november 2020

for a while, then said, Self-confidence is my four-year-old asking
“She doesn’t move… me to turn off the ceiling fan so he can
She needs a battery!” show me how high he jumps.

— YU HINTON, — @HENPECKEDHAL

Kelowna, B.C.

Three-year-old: Can I were asking about his Teachers share the
tell you a question? fish finder, and he funniest things their
Me: You’d fit in well at explained that it showed students have said:
an academic talk. how deep the lake was. ) I wrote this on the
He mentioned the water whiteboard during
— @JESSICACALARCO was 20 feet deep. Look- discussion, “William
ing amazed, my sister Shakespeare (1564-
During our “careers” asked, “Whose feet? 1616),” and a sixth
meeting at Brownies, Yours or mine?” grader asked me, “Is
the girls were sharing that Shakespeare’s real
their aspirations: nurse, — WHATTOEXPECT.COM phone number?”
teacher, chef, vet. Then ) I once overheard a
an odd one: manager. Attempting to stay calm, student say, “I used to
Curious, I asked the I asked my five-year-old write my name in cur-
seven-year-old why she if there was a spider on sive. Now I just write it
wanted to be a manager. my back. He gave me a in English.”
She responded, “My quick once-over, ) I commented in class
daddy says his manager screamed and ran away. that if your parents have
doesn’t do anything all glasses, then you will
day, so I want that job.” — ASHLEY ASHFIELD, probably end up having
to get glasses, too. One
— HANNAH BARKLEY, Hampton, N.B. of my students yelled
out, “Oh no! My mom
Morrisburg, Ont. Me, to my eight-year-old: has glasses! Oh, wait.
Why do you watch You- I’m adopted!”
A dark day for parents Tube videos of other
is when their child people playing video — WEARETEACHERS.COM
learns what “hypo- games when you could
crite” means. play them yourself? Send us your original
Eight-year-old: Well, jokes! You could earn $50
— @RODLACROIX why do you watch Tik- and be featured in the
Tok videos of people magazine. See page 9 or
My dad took my four- dancing when you could rd.ca/joke for details.
year-old brother and do the dances yourself?
five-year-old sister fish-
ing on his boat. They — @SIX_PACK_MOM

rd.ca 63

SOCIETY

AFTER THE
E A RT H QUA K E

I didn’t know what I was getting myself
into when I volunteered
to help at a hospital in Haiti—
or how it would change my life

BY Andrew Furey

EXCERPTED FROM HOPE IN THE BALANCE:
A NEWFOUNDLAND DOCTOR MEETS A WORLD IN CRISIS

64 november 2020

reader’s digest

reader’s digest

PORT-AU-PRINCE, JUNE 2010 used to be a birthing suite. It feels like (PREVIOUS SPREAD) THE CANADIAN PRESS/ADRIAN WYLD
a prison cell: four concrete walls, a
The plastic door creaks on hinges rigged small window and a small door.
with paper and tape. Inside, the floor
is plastic, with three sweaty concrete- There is no air conditioner, and it’s
block walls. There are a couple of dark. There’s enough room for a single
operating tables and an anaesthesia bed and little else. We could use this,
machine. Two procedures could be but only for minor procedures such as
done simultaneously, one with a venti- suturing wounds. I leave the building,
lator and one with spinal anaesthesia. my nose stinging from the odour of
There are two oxygen-saturation moni- formaldehyde.
tors and multiple large cylinders of oxy-
gen. The surgical beds are old and feel The sun is cutting through the tree-
cold. Just as I am thinking that the room top canopy that covers the waiting area
is well-lit, the lights flicker and dim. outside the operating-room building.
It’s around 10 a.m. and it’s getting hot-
I’m being taken on a tour of the ter by the second. We proceed to tour
trauma hospital at which I’ll be work- the rest of the facilities.
ing for the next week. I’m volunteering
here as part of the relief effort after We quickly pass through the tent
the earthquake devastated Haiti the wards, listening like interns. The tents
preceding January. Travelling with me are jam-packed with people. Beds line
from St. John’s are my wife, Allison (a one or both walls, leaving narrow cor-
pediatric emergency doctor) and my ridors for nurses, doctors and families
colleague Dr. Will Moores, a resident to pass along.
orthopaedic surgeon.
By a desk at one end of the second
An overworked air conditioner hums tent sits a single woman who appears
somewhere. An anaesthesia machine cachectic—a word we use for emaci-
beeps. Two Haitian nurses stand by in ated—fatigued and quiet. From afar,
silence. All I can see is their eyes. Quiet she looks to be in her late 50s, but as we
eyes. Thousand-mile-stare eyes. get closer, I see that she can be no older
than 25. She sits in a chair by a bed with
The anaesthesiologist on our team no sheets on it, the green plastic mat-
mulls over the machine, the general tress fully exposed. She leans against
surgeon examines the trays of tools the bed, and her white nightgown is
and our nurses look around the room. falling off her now-visible skeleton.
With Will, I begin poking around what Her eyes are far different than the large,
would be our side of the room, looking silent eyes I have seen in others. They
for things we might need in the next are sunken and yellowed. She looks so
few days. We leave the operating room alone. The bustle of the other tent is
and pass through a corridor into what eerily absent.

66 november 2020

Later on, after we see the other great friends, exchanging stories of
patients in the front of the tent, we family members and daily routines.
step outside, and the local medical Worrying about your kids feels univer-
staff tell us that the lone girl has AIDS sal in these moments. Wicharly even-
and likely TB. It’s horrifying to think of tually tells us that he is a painter, and at
this poor girl’s fate—the disease, the the end of the week he gives Allison
accompanying solitude. Where is her one of his paintings. It still hangs in our
hope? Her sunken eyes are ingrained kitchen in Newfoundland.
in my mind forever.
The blue booties and gown are on,
As soon as rounds are over, the group the patient is placed on an ancient gur-
disperses and the surgical team retreats ney, and we roll into the OR. The air
to the corridors of the operating-room conditioner is still not fully working,
building. The team is nervous; you can but it’s cooler here than in the other
sense the tension. We had only just met rooms. There is a procedure already

WE TRY TO PRIORITIZE AS BEST WE CAN.
THERE’S NO LIGHT BOX, SO WE HOLD
X-RAYS UP TO THE SUN.

the local crew and I can barely remem- under way, with the general surgeon
ber their names. Yet here we are. Will repairing a trapped hernia on the table
and I sit, my legs bouncing rapidly up with the anaesthesia machine. The hip
and down, as the next patient gets ready will be partially replaced on the other
in the pre-op assessment area. We OR table, under spinal anaesthesia.
review the X-rays of the fractured hip This will be a first for me. It’s like a
and take pictures to document the case. scene out of M*A*S*H where the sur-
geon at one table can talk to another
Everyone’s a bit anxious as we wait across the way, nurses circulating to
for the beginning of the series of steps help both patients.
that routinely lead to an operation. Alli-
son is introduced to her translator for The gurney wheels screech to a halt
the week. Wicharly Charles is a young and the patient is transferred onto the
man of short, slim stature. He has a big OR table and placed on his side. He
smile and a bouncing energy that seem winces with the move but is otherwise
to lift everyone around him. Over the stoic. We firmly attach the patient to
week, Allison and Wicharly become the table so he can’t move or fall, and

rd.ca 67

reader’s digest

the nurses do the prep. Will and I leave into an operating room. We replaced
the OR to get ready. The masks go up, a patient’s hip in conditions I would
eye protection goes on, and as we never have dreamed possible. I keep
stand in silence and scrub methodic- repeating in my head: I can do this. I
ally, all the potential things that can go can do this. The heat reminds me of
wrong rush through my head. Then where I am, and there is no escaping
there is a calm and all doubt leaves. the sweat. My scrubs are drenched, and
One benefit of surgical experience is it looks like I just showered in them.
that, as gut-turned stressed as I am, my
hands are steady. The knife confidently Outside the OR, the lineup of
and firmly goes through the skin. patients stretches out of the courtyard.
Allison and the rest of the team are
The surgery is over, and thankfully it working feverishly to push through as
was not a particularly tough one. But I many patients as possible, and there’s
still have this lingering excitement, as a subset of patients with broken bones
if it is the first time I have ever walked for us to triage.

Dr. Andrew Furey
examining a
patient in Haiti.

68 november 2020

We go through the cases and try to My focus is redirected as the team
prioritize them as best we can. There’s leader tells us we need to plan to leave
no light box, so we hold X-rays up to the site in 10 minutes. There is an
the bright sun to illuminate their find- urgency, as we are all aware of the set-
ings. Will and I know we have our work ting sun and what dangers—robberies
cut out for us with each broken, and kidnappings among them—come
cracked or shattered bone we see. It’s with darkness.
a mess, and these people have been in
severe pain for a long time with not so We wend our way through the streets
much as an Aspirin. We organize the of Port-au-Prince, slowly tracing our
list with the nurses and settle an order way back up the hill to our home for the
for the cases this week. week. I’d fallen asleep, but I stir when
the convoy pulls to a stop, and we pro-
Next up is a man whose leg was bro- ceed, with our armed escort, back
ken in the earthquake. He has been into the heavily guarded house that
struggling to walk for five months, and feels more like a compound. We all sit

JUST AS THE TOURNIQUET GOES ON,
ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE. WE LOSE POWER,
NURSES DASH OUT OF THE OPERATING ROOM.

COURTESY OF ANDREW FUREY we think we can help him, and save the exhausted. Tonight we will sleep on a
leg, with routine surgery. bed under the hum of a generator and
the scent of the mosquito net. I lather
Just as the tourniquet goes on, all hell up in fly repellent, grab a slice of pizza
breaks loose. We lose power. The local and a cold beer, and within minutes I
nurses dash out of the operating room, am nodding off again. The lights are still
knocking things over in the dark, their on, and everyone else is still awake.
screams filling the room and the hall. It
gets worse. There’s a bleeding artery. As I drift off, some faces from the day
We have no control, no light, no help. revisit me. I wonder where the despon-
The room feels 10 times hotter. Panic. dent girl with AIDS is tonight. What
Blood moving in the dark. Focus returns was her life like before all this? Where,
before the lights. Muscle memory kicks if anywhere, does she find joy?
in again. Deep breath. Keep it together
till the bleeding is under control and the I think about some of the faces in the
surgery is finished. lineup outside the OR—the pain they
are in, but the smiles they somehow

rd.ca 69

reader’s digest

manage to find. I have never witnessed well-worn rope that hangs off the end
hope in the eyes of patients like I of the bed with a bucket containing
have in Haiti. rocks at its end.

THE NEXT DAY starts on a positive note. It’s primitive traction. It catches me
It feels like some order is making its off guard, and I find myself staring at it
way into the disorder. We wake, shower as if it’s a display in a medical museum.
and descend toward the hospital. It Traction is a form of treatment used
takes about 45 minutes in the endless years ago to prevent broken bones
traffic, and we decide to set out earlier from moving so they would heal. It was
tomorrow to avoid the craziness. As usually rigged with a series of pulleys
we pull through the hospital gates, the and wasn’t meant to be used for long—
funeral home is present in the back- you could die from blood clots and
ground. We spend less time getting infections. But this man had been lying
ready today and jump in right away as flat on his back with the bucket pulling
the team scurries to their duties. on him for months. If left much longer,
it will pull him to his death.

A GIRL IN PIGTAILS WITH THE SERIOUS
EXPRESSION OF SOMEONE FAR OLDER WOULDN’T
LEAVE THE SIDE OF HER INJURED GRANDFATHER.

Will and I begin rounds, checking His granddaughter is his bedside
on patients we operated on the day companion. She can’t be any more
before. We still haven’t mastered expe- than 11, in a dirty dress, pigtails and
diently getting through patient rounds the serious expression of someone far
in tents; more time with patients means older. She did not leave her grand-
it takes far longer than we would like. It father’s side the entire time.
is now almost 11 a.m. and we have not
operated yet. Will begins explaining the surgery
to the patient and the girl through an
The first surgery case is another hip interpreter. Once we are finished the
replacement. The patient, we are told, explanation, the granddaughter nods
has had a broken hip since the time her head, there is a conversation in
of the earthquake and has been in a Creole, and they agree to go ahead.
tent hospital since. He is lying there She walks alongside her grandfather
with a pin in his shin attached to a while he is carried on the stretcher to

70 november 2020

the operating room, then waits outside a room where a large chunk of rubble
in the courtyard. has collapsed directly onto a hospital
bed, the green walls still bright.
Things go smoothly. The procedure
is routine, and I’m confident in the out- On the other side of the room lies
come. Will and I escort the patient to another outside courtyard. Standing
the makeshift recovery room. We will among garbage and rubble is one
wait until he is stabilized before mak- building that looks relatively well-
ing the journey through the collapsed preserved. It is the X-ray suite. Outside
portion of the hospital to get his post- the doors, in the direct sun, are X-ray
operative X-ray done. films hanging to dry.

The surgery has taken a few hours, There is a delay in the doors opening,
but as I walk out of the building, the as the X-ray personnel are busy listening
young girl is still sitting there. There is to a soccer match on the radio. Eventu-
no translator near. When she sees me, ally our patient is taken in, and the
she leaps to her feet. I slow my pace doors close. Around the corner, there’s
and smile. She smiles and for the first a room that is collapsed except for
time she looks her age. I give her the one intact wall with windows. Peering
thumbs-up, and she sits back down through a broken window, I see that it
with the smile still on her face. is—or was—a cafeteria.

All I can see is my own daughters The disturbing image of life at
sitting there, waiting for news from a the time of a disaster is replaced by the
surgeon. I get fidgety and I’m suddenly smile of the young girl as we return her
uncomfortable with my emotions, so I grandfather to his bed. The smile, the
turn away and wait for Will. hope in her eyes, the commitment to
her grandfather—she smiles in spite
We take the patient across the of her surroundings.
uneven pavement of the courtyard. On
our way, other team members stop us I am buoyed by this case, and it sus-
to look at X-rays and hear of patients to tains me for the remainder of the days
be seen. We balance the stretcher care- of that first week-long trip.
fully as we pass through a makeshift
gateway that leads into one of the most EXCERPTED FROM HOPE IN THE BALANCE, BY ANDREW
damaged areas of the hospital, through FUREY. COPYRIGHT © 2020 ANDREW FUREY. PUBLISHED BY
DOUBLEDAY CANADA, A DIVISION OF PENGUIN RANDOM
HOUSE CANADA LIMITED. REPRODUCED BY ARRANGEMENT
WITH THE PUBLISHER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Where the Wild Things Are

There’s something in human nature that says we need to have at least one
symbolic place where chaos and dark desires can live.

ANDREW PYPER, NOVELIST

rd.ca 71

LIFE LESSON

BeThenefits

ofSelf-Care
Simple ways to boost your
resiliency during tough times

BY Kate Carraway

illustration by salini perera

last march and april, I woke up every A difference-maker throughout this
morning trying to shake off a bad time, however, has been my self-care
dream—something grey and heavy, routine, a set of practices and habits that
something about a virus. Every morn- I’ve followed since my 20s, before I even
ing, I’d realize it was, somehow, real. knew there was a “self-care” movement.
But even as I have integrated the “new
normal” of lockdown and social dis- While the term “self-care” might
tancing into my consciousness, the bring to mind Instagram hashtags and
stress, fear and grief of the situation spa days, it has two legitimate origins.
can still overwhelm me. Before it went mainstream, “self-care"
was used to describe guidance on what

72 november 2020



reader’s digest

sick people and their caretakers should all that relaxing.” That’s partly because
do to support the work of getting meditators are encouraged to sit upright
healthy. And, women and Black peo- on a mat or cushion on the floor; I like
ple used the term to describe the kind to meditate in bed. Watkins says, “You
of care not provided by a white, patri- want to sit in a way that feels absolutely
archal medical establishment. comfortable, like you’re watching tele-
vision,” and he notes that a sofa or read-
It’s fortunate that self-care is now ing chair works well enough.
more widespread, as people of any age
can make use of the movement’s les- And while various meditation prac-
sons during this pandemic. Here are tices involve focusing on something
some starting points. specific—the breath or a visualization—
Watkins suggests to instead try mental
Settle Your Mind “roaming.” With your eyes closed, let
yourself think about the past, the future,
Even before COVID-19 arrived in conversations, songs—whatever comes
Canada, we had been experiencing a up. “You don’t want to wrestle with your
mental health crisis. According to the thoughts,” he says. “The practice is to
Mental Health Commission of Can- adopt an attitude of complete noncha-
ada, mental health challenges cause lance.” Counterintuitively, letting your
around 500,000 people to miss work mind wander freely allows it to settle.
each week. And in a recent Morneau
Shepell survey, 36 per cent of Ontari- Meditation won’t reverse decades of
ans reported their mental health has accumulated stress, Watkins warns. But
suffered since the pandemic began. with time, you’re more likely to become
resilient when you need to be.
One pillar of self-care that can help
ease the mental burden—and which Roll Away Stress
also happens to be simple, efficient
and free—is meditation. The positive When you’re under stress, over-
impact of meditation on anxiety, whelmed or, yes, living through a pan-
depression, focus and even physical demic, regular exercise can be one of
pain has been so well-established that the first healthy habits to go. Yet mov-
it is now used in schools, on sports ing your body is a core principle of
teams and in corporate offices. self-care and one of the best defences
against stress. For anyone who feels
Still, it can be difficult to create and that squeezing in a workout is too
maintain a regular meditation practice. much right now, Melanie Caines, a
Light Watkins, a nomadic meditation yoga teacher in St. John’s, Nfld., sug-
teacher who’s settled in Atlanta for the gests movement needn’t mean doing
pandemic, says that a lot of people don’t a serious workout every day. “A little
meditate because, at first, “It doesn’t feel

74 november 2020

goes a long way,” she says. In fact, to Toronto naturopathic doctor Nikita
some targeted, gentle exercises can do Sander, is vitamin D. She notes that the
a lot to relax your entire body. nutrient is protective in many ways and
is key for mental health: “Vitamin D
Since the average person is inclined helps regulate adrenalin and dopamine
to hunch their shoulders when they production, and prevents the depletion
work, read or even walk, Caines rec- of serotonin in the brain, making it
ommends taking a break for shoulder important for protecting against mood
rolls. To do this, start by inhaling, lift- disorders like depression.”
ing the shoulders toward the ears,
exhaling and “smoothly and gently” Vitamin D also supports the immune
rolling the shoulders back and down. system. Sander notes that deficient
Caines advises to do this without any levels of it have been associated with
“jerky movements,” but instead with certain cancers, autoimmune disease,
“fluidity and ease”—and only if it feels obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular
good and there’s no pain. disease. “This suggests that vitamin D
has a much greater role in our overall
Another activity that people often health than we yet understand.”
don’t make time for is intentional
breathing. “We breathe just enough Sander also encourages people to
to stay alive and stay conscious,” says consider taking an adaptogen, which
Caines, “and we don’t use this incredi- is an herbal supplement that helps the
bly powerful tool that we have in our body cope with stress. She likes ashwa-
back pockets.” For a reset at any time gandha, which can help balance corti-
during the day, she suggests taking a sol, a stress hormone. “When our cor-
breath in through the nose, opening the tisol is high, that can often wreak havoc
mouth and sighing. “Physically, you’ll on other aspects of our health, includ-
start to release tension and soften.” ing our energy levels, our ability to
sleep and our ability to stay calm,” she
Get Your Vitamins says. As always, however, discuss any
new supplements with your doctor
It’s easy to resort to unhealthy foods as first to avoid any contraindications.
a comfort or distraction during a diffi-
cult time, which only makes it harder Self-care can extend in many direc-
for your body to deal with stress. An tions. Over the last few months, I
important self-care tactic is to be mind- upped my own routine by starting a
ful about what you’re eating and con- running program with a friend, taking
sider adding some nutritional support. barefoot “grounding” walks in the
backyard and keeping a daily journal.
In general, this means a balanced Self-care, as the name suggests, is
diet that is right for your needs. But one whatever you make it.
commonly overlooked piece, according

rd.ca 75

SOCIETY

Westworld
In her new book Along the Western Front,
the photographer Leah Hennel captures
the ranches, rodeos and romance of
Southern and Central Alberta

76 november 2020

reader’s digest

d

ALL PHOTOS: © 2020, LEAH HENNELreader’s digest

L eah Hennel’s love affair
with rural Alberta life
began around age nine,
when her Calgary par-
ents would send her and
her brother to spend
part of the summer at
the family’s ancestral ranch. There were
horses, open fields and—memora-
bly—the time her great aunt Phyllis
showed her how to slaughter and pluck
her own chicken for supper.

Hennel became an esteemed photo-
journalist, working for the Calgary Sun
and the Calgary Herald. Her favourite
assignments took her out of the city
to farms, working ranches and annual
rodeos. She was attracted to the vistas
and the magical quality of the light, as
well as to the history of these places
(including one where the Sundance
Kid trained horses) and the drama of
an afternoon of cattle branding.

This year, she collected her favourite
photos into a book, Along the Western
Front. The pictures introduce us to the
pride of the families who run the sto-
ried ranches, the beauty of their horses
and the bravery of the riders who com-
pete at the rodeos. It documents a way
of life that’s changed little in the last
couple hundred years—and with any
luck will last 100 more. —MARK PUPO

78 november 2020

Rodeo world: (clockwise
from left) bucking horses
at a ranch near Hanna,
Alberta; sidesaddle
racer Sam Mitchell at the
2018 Calgary Stampede;
backstage at a 2014
bareback bronc event;
a young steer rider.

rd.ca 79

reader’s digest

Cattle call: (clockwise
from top left) steer rider
Bailey Schellenberg;
practising lassoing;
roping calves; a bull
rider at a 2014 Calgary
pro rodeo.

rd.ca 81

reader’s digest

On the ranch:
(clockwise from top
left) riders preparing
for branding at the Lazy
U Ranch near Pincher
Creek, Alberta; Lilian
Gross helps hold a calf
during branding at a
Pincher Creek Hutterite
colony; Tate Chattaway
tends to horses at the
Bar S Ranch; ranchers
Cobie and Dana Herr with
their daughter Reata.

rd.ca 83

HUMOUR

I ACCIDENTALLY look. listen. when you’re a busy career
BOUGHT A BAG woman and mom of 17 who’s always
on the go and just trying to have it all,
OF NO-PURPOSE grocery trips need to be quick, efficient
FLOUR. affairs. I’ve learned to anticipate well
in advance that at some point, my
NOW WHAT??? 284-week-old triplets will once again
want to make ferret-shaped cupcakes.
BY Sophie Kohn And I’ve learned to be prepared. Or so
I thought.
illustration by joren cull
I can’t explain how it happened. I
remember being in the grocery store.
I remember grabbing the bag of flour
off the shelf. No I did not, quote,
“HAVE TIME” to check if the bag
said “All-Purpose,” “Some-Purpose,”
“Undisclosed-Purpose” or “Still Search-
ing For Its Purpose.” But when I got

84 november 2020

reader’s digest

home and dumped my groceries on the a soft and useless pile on the linoleum.
kitchen island, it became clear: the bag I attempted to use the remnants of
said “No-Purpose.” It was one of the
most chilling moments of my adult life, the pile to make some homemade play-
perhaps second only to the night my dough for the kids, but the nanosecond
three toddlers informed me in unison the substance was ready, it formed itself
that they needed to make ferret-shaped into letters that spelled “GET LOST.”
cupcakes. They were standing over my It then evaporated instantly before
bed when they said it. It was 4:12 a.m. my eyes. No, I have not been enthusi-
astically celebrating legalization; this
Okay, so: no-purpose flour. Could really happened.
just be a mistake on the packaging.
Why would such a product even exist I HAVE DEVOTED
if it had no purpose? My first impulse THE REMAINDER OF
was to disregard the label entirely. I see
now how deeply foolish that was. MY NATURAL LIFE TO
PROVING THE FLOUR’S
I quickly whipped up a test batch of PURPOSELESSNESS.
cupcakes alone in the kitchen. But when
I took them out of the oven, the flour I then returned to the store and pur-
had become rock hard. It cost me 91 per chased a new bag of no-purpose flour,
cent of my teeth to make this discovery. determined to start fresh and use it as
a hand weight during my home work-
Whilst sitting in my dentist’s waiting outs, but it inexplicably became lighter
room, I solemnly promised a terrible than the air itself.
oil painting of some boats on a wall
before me that I would not panic just At the time of this writing, there is no
yet. Okay, so maybe the flour had “no known purpose for this flour. I have
purpose” within the realm of baking, now quit my job as a popular horse
but surely it had a purpose in the realm psychic and devoted the remainder of
of, like, the world. I didn’t want to just my natural life to the pursuit of proving
throw it out. the flour’s purposelessness to any and
all doubters.
I rushed home with a brilliant,
waste-conscious idea: I would use the How is that working out so far? Let’s
remaining bag of flour as a doorstop. just say it’s time to strike “dry sham-
The kitchen door is always swinging poo??” off my list because I tested that
and flinging about, and this was the theory 10 minutes ago and am now
perfect solution. Except, it wasn’t at all. legally bald as a result.
I’m dismayed to report that the bag
disintegrated within 10-12 business
minutes and the flour seeped out into

rd.ca 85

reader’s digest

GOOD VIRUS
THE

BY Mark Czarnecki

FROM MAISONNEUVE

86 november 2020

EDITORS’ CHOICE

Way back in 1917, The tiny bacteria-eaters
a Canadian scientist may hold the answer
to today’s increasingly
pioneered powerful superbugs.
PHAGE THERAPY.

reader’s digest

eff Summerhayes knew the Phage therapy is a controversial (PREVIOUS SPREAD) DAVID MACK/SCIENCE SOURCE
drill. The bleak hospital treatment that uses a type of virus to
corridors, the calls on the defeat bacterial infection. (Phage is pro-
intercom, the IV tubes in nounced like “page”—the “h” is silent.)
The treatment has likely saved thou-
Jhis arms dangling from their sands of lives worldwide over the
holders like chandeliers— decades and is still used throughout
all have been familiar since childhood. Eastern Europe. In North America,
But the bug was still in him, and all the however, phages were all but aban-
antibiotics had failed. In September doned after World War II. Although
2018, at age 56, he was lying in a bed at phage therapy is now starting to make
Vancouver General Hospital with his a comeback in the United States, it
sister sitting beside him, both expect- hasn’t been legally used in Canada
ing to hear, once again, that he didn’t since 1949, even though a Canadian
have long to live. scientist pioneered the treatment.

Summerhayes has cystic fibrosis (CF), Today, the story behind the field is
a life-shortening genetic condition that barely known to most Canadians.
thickens mucus, renders breathing That’s now changing as the world
laborious and transforms your lungs faces a new scare big enough to out-
into prime breeding grounds for bacte- weigh some of the doubts: extremely
ria. For the last 40 years, Summerhayes antibiotic-resistant bacteria like Sum-
had lived with a strain of Burkholderia merhayes’s B. cenocepacia, otherwise
cenocepacia, one of the deadliest of known as “superbugs.” And, after all
all CF infections, lodged in his lungs. this time, Canadian researchers are
A double lung transplant that Septem- still poised to be at the field’s forefront,
ber had left him with a fifty-fifty if only they can get the necessary sup-
chance of extending his life for another port of their government.
year, as long as the bug didn’t return.
But it did, immediately, and the doc- As Cariou tells it, the doctor dis-
tors were out of options. missed her suggestion: “We don’t do
that here.” The doctor warned that,
Fortunately, Summerhayes’s sister, even in the U.S., phage had been used
Heather Summerhayes Cariou, wasn’t. only a handful of times. “It’s very exper-
The 68-year-old author had done her imental,” she told the siblings. “There
homework. When the infectious dis- has been no clinical trial.” Politely,
ease doctor arrived for the consultation, Cariou rejected this caution. “If Jeff is
Cariou urged her to scour the globe for willing to take the risk, then we’re ask-
new, off-the-wall antibiotics. Then she ing Vancouver General to join him in
asked something she had asked many taking that risk.”
times before: “What about phage?”

88 november 2020

since the inception of life eons ago, antimicrobials continues to decline,
bacteria have been evolving and mutat- with some experts predicting that by
ing to counter threats to their survival 2050, 40 per cent of infections will not
from various antibacterial agents that respond to the drugs generally used
occur in nature. This conflict carries to treat them. If the trend continues,
on daily in the sea, on the land and in common strep throat or even a small
our bodies. infected cut could have no cure and
might be fatal. Recruiting phages is one
Antibiotic medicine is essentially of the few viable solutions remaining
made of natural antibacterials rede- to defeat these killer bacteria.
signed to deal a knockout blow to
infectious bacteria. But it hasn’t quite Bacteriophages (literally “bacteria
worked out that way. Global over- eaters,” called “phages” for short) are
prescription of antibiotics and their viruses that destroy bacteria. From a
misuse as preventive measures have human perspective, viruses are con-
spurred superbugs to mutate and defeat sidered either good (like phages that
virtually all antibiotics. attack superbugs) or bad (like COVID-
19), but in nature the distinction is
ONE DAY SOON, EVEN irrelevant. Wherever there are bacte-
STREP THROAT OR A ria—and human intestines contain bil-
SMALL INFECTED CUT lions—even tinier phages exist, as well;
COULD HAVE NO CURE phages are, in fact, the most ubiqui-
AND MIGHT BE FATAL. tous life form on the planet and prob-
ably the oldest antibacterial found in
The World Health Organization and nature. The advantage of phages as
United Nations estimate that antimi- bacteria-killers is that, unlike antibiot-
crobial resistance (AMR)—the ability ics—which nuke many bacteria in the
of all varieties of superbugs, including body, both bad and good—a phage
bacteria, viruses and fungi, to defeat attacks only one species or strain.
human treatment—annually causes
700,000 deaths worldwide. It’s a num- Thousands of researchers around
ber some researchers believe is far too the world are studying phages, but
low, and is predicted to rise to 10 mil- very few are focused on phage ther-
lion per year by 2050, resulting in more apy. Jonathan Dennis, a microbiolo-
deaths than those from cancer. gist at the University of Alberta and
one of Canada’s leading phage therapy
Meanwhile, the curative power of researchers, has an even narrower
focus: compassionate-use cases, in
which a patient’s life is on the brink.
Moved by the plight of B. cenocepacia

rd.ca 89

reader’s digest

sufferers like Jeff Summerhayes, he has it to produce many copies of the virus NIK WEST
made conquering the bacteria and its at the cost of the host’s life. These
relatives his life’s work. phages then burst out of the host cell
to attack surrounding bacteria.
The core of every phage researcher’s
lab is its phage bank or library. Dennis’s After an isolated boost of funding for
phage bank, a large sliding-door refrig- his phage therapy research early this
erator, preserves hundreds of phages century, Dennis now struggles to over-
at different stages of preparation. It come knee-jerk opposition from gov-
also contains about 300 environmental ernment funders to every grant pro-
samples from sources rich in bacteria posal. These funding woes frustrate
where healing phages might be found: Cariou: “This man is doing break-
the soil around plant roots, bird drop- through research,” she says. “My God,
pings and sewage outlets, especially what’s wrong with you, Canada?”
from hospitals, where the excrement
from recovering infectious disease the methods dennis relies upon today—
patients may contain curative phages. isolating the bacteria and testing phages
against them one by one—have hardly
Researchers have their “aha” changed since the viruses were first
moments when they watch, on a petri discovered over a century ago. The man
dish, as widening circles of phage who co-discovered and named phages
devour a bacterial culture. Behind those was also Canadian: Félix d’Hérelle, born
moments lie weeks, months, even years in Montreal in 1873.
of work spent isolating a likely phage,
sequencing its genome and determin- In 1917, working at the Pasteur Insti-
ing where and how it attacks the bac- tute in Paris, d’Hérelle made an inter-
terial cell. As a phage is being identi- esting observation. When he applied a
fied as a match for a bacterial strain, it solution from the stools of recovering
must also be purified of possible toxins dysentery patients to a culture of dys-
that might trigger a damaging response entery bacteria, the bacteria disap-
in the patient. peared. Though not the first to observe
the phenomenon, d’Hérelle drew a
When Dennis views individual new conclusion: a virus in the stools
phages through an electron micro- had attacked the bacteria in these
scope, he sees a geometric head, like a patients and triggered their recovery.
lunar lander, perched on incredibly Noting the phage in his petri dish
delicate legs. These legs surround a spread out to destroy the whole bacter-
long probe that pierces the bacterial ial culture, he also deduced that the
cell and injects the phage’s DNA into virus was reproducing itself in the pro-
the host. In most cases, this hijacks the cess of killing the bacteria. The cocksure
host’s replication mechanisms, forcing

90 november 2020

Jeff Summerhayes is
prone to antibiotic-
resistant infections.
He wants phage
therapy approved
for people like him.

reader’s digest

d’Hérelle was convinced he’d found Western Europe and North America,
a cure for dysentery—and a form of and d’Hérelle also helped his one-time
microbe that could cure other infec- student George Eliava found a micro-
tious diseases, as well. These conclu- biology institute in Georgia (then a
sions were a milestone in humanity’s republic in the Soviet Union). Working
war on bacterial infections. with d’Hérelle’s treatments, staff at
the Eliava Institute quickly became
D’Hérelle’s knowledge of phage biol- experts in phage therapy and continue
ogy was basic; genes had barely been to administer phage treatment today.
named, and molecular biology was
not yet born. His goal was to heal, and “BECAUSE OF PHAGE
his approach was pragmatic. When THERAPY, I WAS CURED
several young people with dysentery
recovered after he’d treated them OF SOMETHING THAT
with phages, d’Hérelle’s main concern WAS NOT OFFICIALLY
wasn’t to prove beyond a shadow of a
doubt that phages were responsible for CURABLE.”
the cure. For him, their recovery was
enough to justify the method, and he Unfortunately, the treatment’s suc-
became its flamboyant promoter. cess planted the seeds for its own
downfall. The vast numbers of patients
Once d’Hérelle published his results, claiming cure by phages overwhelmed
interest in phage therapy spread quickly, the need to examine their biology and
especially in countries where infec- chemistry more closely, which meant
tious diseases like dysentery, cholera that when the treatment failed, expla-
and typhoid fever were rampant. These nations were sometimes lacking. And
were garden-variety pathogens, so his with little regulatory control of their
success was partly due to filling a big contents, the remedies often contained
basket with low-hanging fruit. insufficient amounts of phage, or none
at all: accusations of snake-oil medicine
D’Hérelle was soon recognized as a cast shadows on the whole method.
pioneer. In 1925, he was awarded the
Leeuwenhoek Medal in microbiology, Soon, d’Hérelle’s alleged Commu-
a prize given only once every 10 to 12 nist sympathies, combined with a lack
years. Three years later, d’Hérelle, a of proper clinical trials and support-
passionate socialist, allowed the com- ing evidence for the efficacy of phages,
mercialization of his most effective had a chilling impact. Once penicillin
remedies but reinvested his share of and other antibiotics were readily
the profits in his research facility. By
1930, commercial preparations of
phages were available throughout

92 november 2020

available after World War II, the treat- firm, both offered to find matching
ment was mostly abandoned, except phages. Gertler was doubtful, but he
in France, Poland and the Soviet Union. ducked into a washroom and took
Although nominated dozens of times swabs from his infection, which the two
for the Nobel Prize, d’Hérelle ended up took home to compare with phages in
a footnote in the history of 20th-century their libraries.
bacteriology.
Both researchers were successful: the
the controversial treatment began a Eliava researcher invited him to Georgia
slow return to Canada thanks, in part, for treatment, while the Israeli sent him
to a painful accident. In 1996, a Toronto the phage solution. Back in Toronto,
stand-up bass player named Alfred Gertler knew that only a qualified doc-
Gertler fell and broke his ankle so badly tor could administer the phage to the
that the bones protruded from his skin. gaping hole in his foot. He sent a request
When the cast was removed, the bones to Health Canada for compassionate-
had mended but were severely infected. use approval, but it failed on the
Eventually, the infection spread so grounds he wasn’t dying. Gertler was
deep that no antibiotics could reach it, reduced to hobbling around to doc-
leaving an open wound that refused to tors’ offices toting the phage and sup-
heal: despite trying everything, all his porting documents to plead his case.
doctors could offer to relieve his suf-
fering was amputation. But the doctors were spooked. A
year before, in Toronto, a woman had
“I was told to give up hope, but I acquired an antibiotic-resistant infec-
didn’t,” Gertler says. In early 2000, he tion in hospital and had been secretly
found a New York Times article titled “A treated with phages. The infection dis-
Stalinist Antibiotic Alternative” about appeared, but she died from other com-
how phage therapy was practised in plications. The doctors involved risked
Georgia. Gertler noted a reference to a censure from the College of Physicians
biannual international phage biology and Surgeons, and possibly losing their
meeting, which was being held in June licenses, for administering a drug that
of that year in Montreal. Gertler scraped didn’t have regulatory approval.
together the money to go and register
as the only non-academic attendee. With all doors closed to him, Gertler
became the first North American to
There, he met an American phage take the midnight plane to Georgia for
researcher who urged him to go to phage therapy treatment. At the Eliava
Georgia. Two other researchers at the Institute, the phage treatment doctors
conference, one from the Eliava Insti- administered into his foot was essen-
tute and one from an Israeli biotech tially the same mix as one that
d’Hérelle had brought to the institute

rd.ca 93

reader’s digest

in the 1930s, regularly maintained and AMR and should be scaling up research DANIEL WOOD
updated every six months, as d’Hérelle and programs to address it.”
had advised. One year from the time
Gertler first read about phages, his Strathdee argues that Canada has
foot had largely recovered. “I’m stand- lagged in funding phage therapy
ing here. I’m not in pain. I’m healthy,” research partly because it has simply
says Gertler. “I was cured of some- failed to catalogue the enormity of the
thing that was not officially curable.” need for it. “Without the scientists really
knowing the scope of the problem, the
canada could take a cue from other public doesn’t know either,” she says.
nations whose initiatives are riding the “And without the public knowing,
current wave of phage therapy. In 2018, there’s no impetus for dedicating
Belgium became the first country in research support to that problem.”
Western Europe to officially allow phage
therapy without requiring extensive Regulators are another major hur-
testing in clinical trials: pharmacists dle. Physicians and researchers had
there can now sell phages upon pre- petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug
scription and approval by a physician. Administration and Health Canada to
Cost projections for the plan also ensure adjust their clinical trial requirements
that researchers’ work of characteriz- to take into account the special prob-
ing and purifying phages is adequately lems raised in treating humans with
compensated. Some researchers believe phages. A standard clinical trial has
the Belgian approach would also work four phases and can involve hundreds
in Canada if this country had a central- or thousands of patients and control
ized system for manufacturing and participants. Unlike antibiotics, how-
testing the phages. ever, both the phage and the host bac-
teria often evolve during treatment,
Different critics have different theo- making each case unique. One basic
ries of exactly why Canada continues to requirement in a standard clinical trial
lag. Toronto-born epidemiologist Stef- is consistent application from patient
fanie Strathdee founded the American to patient, but administering phages to
non-profit Center for Innovative Phage large numbers of people makes this
Applications and Therapeutics (IPATH) virtually impossible.
after she convinced doctors to treat her
husband with phages and helped save Despite these obstacles, two new
his life. In a blunt Globe and Mail op-ed and hopeful methodologies recently
in March 2019, she wrote, “Canada helped save the life of a 15-year-old CF
should take a leading role, not a back patient in the United Kingdom. The
seat, in the prevention and treatment of first was a holy grail: genetically engin-
eered phages, two of which were suc-
cessfully used in the girl’s treatment.

94 november 2020

Jonathan
Dennis’ Alberta

lab houses a
phage bank
with hundreds
of samples.

reader’s digest

Engineered phages, unlike phages in of thousands elsewhere. Dennis believes
their natural state, can be patented superbugs are the most urgent threat
along with other ways to replicate to humankind. “Climate change can be
phages’ power, such as synthesizing terrifying and very real,” says Dennis,
their bacteria-destroying enzymes. “but long before we succumb to cli-
They are of great interest to biotech mate change, multidrug-resistant bac-
firms, and by the time these products teria will decimate us.”
are ready for clinical trials, the regula-
tory regime may be more flexible. Dennis, for one, hasn’t given up.
COVID-19 has put on hold a phage ther-
The other breakthrough in this case apy working group he’d formed with
relied on crowdsourcing. The third several lung transplant doctors, and
phage used in the girl’s treatment was the research funding roller coaster has
found in 2010 in the soil scraped from ground to a halt. But he is still in his lab
a rotting eggplant by an undergrad stu- matching phages to superbugs, ready
dent in South Africa. Her discovery to help save a life when called upon.
stemmed from a novel project at the
University of Pittsburgh that encour- That doesn’t yet include Jeff Sum-
ages interested students to locate merhayes. Two years ago, despite his
phages and characterize their proper- sister’s push for phage therapy, his
ties. Dennis and other researchers in doctors treated him with an experi-
Canada have proposed a similar proj- mental antibiotic. So far, he’s OK. His
ect, Phage Canada, three times in doctors don’t know if the superbug is
recent years—but their grant applica- gone forever or is hiding, undetected, in
tions were rejected. his body. But regardless of the outcome
of his battle with B. cenocepacia, Sum-
maybe it’s the grim risks of not follow- merhayes says he has no doubts about
ing through that will ultimately moti- the value of his case and of the need for
vate change. The UN’s most recent more patients to have access to phages.
report on AMR says an unprecedented “If I can, by speaking up, help some-
effort by all nations is required to avert body else get phage therapy that will
disaster. Bacterially infected patients save their life,” he says, “that would be
are dying daily by the thousands in absolutely amazing.”
high-income countries and by the tens
© 2019, MARK CZARNECKI. FROM “PHAGE CRUSADE,”
MAISONNEUVE (WINTER, 2019), MAISONNEUVE.ORG

Light the Way

I am not a person who reaches for the moon as long as I have the stars.

GERTRUDE EDERLE, FIRST WOMAN TO SWIM ACROSS ENGLISH CHANNEL

96 november 2020

DOWN TO BUSINESS Here are return claims/
excuses that employees
have had to deal with:

“I dried these boots
by the fire, and the
soles melted.”

“I bought a different
car, and this roof rack
doesn’t fit.”

“A bear slashed
my tent.”

“These river sandals
aren’t sexy enough.”

— ADVENTURE-JOURNAL.COM

“Altogether, including the discount, your rewards card, Funny Bones
the coupon you brought in, your store credit and today’s If I were an X-ray tech-
nician, after I took the
blowout sale, after tax it’ll still be unaffordable.” first X-ray I’d say,
“Okay, now let’s do
a goofy one.”

— BROTI GUPTA,

comedy writer

YASIN OSMAN I was browsing in the “Yes,” I said, “but I Courier Problems
men’s department at really don’t need it.” What happens when
Neiman Marcus when you rearrange the let-
a knitted black designer Without missing a ters of MAILMEN? They
blazer caught my eye. beat, she replied, “We get really upset.
Although the tag said it don’t sell things that
was on sale, it still cost people need.” — @DADSAYSJOKES
more than I cared to
spend. Tempting fate, — JOE CAPUTO Are you in need of some
I tried it on. Just then, a professional motivation?
saleswoman appeared. Customers can take Send us a work anecdote,
advantage of a gener- and you could receive
“It fits you perfectly,” ous return policy at REI, $50. To submit your
she said. a camping-gear com- stories, visit rd.ca/joke.
pany. How generous?

rd.ca 97

reader’s digest

BRAINTEASERS

Star Search (STAR SEARCH) FRASER SIMPSON; (A FRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOOD) RODERICK KIMBALL - ENIGAMI.FUN
Moderately difficult Place stars in
seven cells of this grid so that every
row, every column and every bolded,
outlined region contains exactly one
star. Stars must never be located in
adjacent cells, not even diagonally.
Can you find the solution?

n A Friendly Neighbourhood
Moderately Difficult Astor, Basuri, Cruz,
98 november 2020 Derringer, Erikson and Feng each live in one
of the six houses in the neighbourhood shown.
The houses are purple, brown, green, blue,
yellow and orange. From the statements
below, see if you can determine where each
neighbour lives and what colour their house is.

Astor: I can walk to a brown house without
crossing any streets.

Basuri: My house is northeast of a yellow one.

Cruz: There is a green house southwest of mine.

Derringer: I live directly between a green
house and an orange house.

Feng: I can’t see the purple house from mine
because Cruz’s house is directly in the way.