B.C.
to add 168 new police officers and 10 special prosecutors The economic downturn may be on everybody’s minds, but organizers of the Variety Show of Hearts Telethon are hoping there’s no shortfall of generosity when the 43rd annual event airs on Global BC today and Sunday. Last year’s 23-hour show benefiting kids with special needs and their families raised a record sum of more than $8.2 million, which surpassed the $7.5 million raised in 2007. This year, those who donate $109 or more will be entered to win a trip for four to Paris and those who give $159 or more will get an artwork by Robert Bateman. Stephanie Davison is one child who will be watching the telethon with interest: she is one of its beneficiaries. The seven-year old Surrey girl rides a $3,500 Freedom Concepts Discovery tricycle, which her parents Paul and Shannon purchased with the help of a grant from Variety. Stephanie was born with a biochemical disease that causes severe muscle weakness and poor balance, along with developmental disorders.
Shannon said it took doctors about a year and a half to make a definitive diagnosis and Stephanie is believed to be one of only eight people in the world to have this particular mitochondrial condition.