This is the third of six profiles on recipients of the 2012 Courage to Come Back Awards. They are presented by Coast Mental Health to six outstanding people who have overcome great obstacles only to give back to their communities. Their inspiring comebacks will be celebrated at a gala dinner held at the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre on May 17.
Except for a mild cold, Margaret Benson presents a picture of health — fit, trim, clear-eyed with youthful skin and flowing, long brunette hair.
It’s hard to reconcile that image with the news her doctor gave her almost 40 years ago when she was 14, that cystic fibrosis would kill her within a year.
“My doctor said, ‘Go and live your life for the next year to the best of your ability,’” said Benson, the Courage to Come Back Award recipient in the medical category, at the North Vancouver home she shares with her husband, Brian, of 24 years.
“I remember I said, ‘No, no, I’m going to live until I’m old and grey,’” she said, laughing that she still, at 53, has only 10 grey hairs.
Benson become a teacher at 21, fulfilling a dream she had had since she was three.
She’s taught ever since, spending 14 years at Brooksbank elementary in North Vancouver, even when she had to go to school with a portable intravenous antibiotics machine, earning her the affectionate nickname the Tube Lady among her students.
Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/health/North+Vancouver+woman+believes+defies+odds/6500746/story.html#ixzz1splPye96
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
1 comment:
I remember I said, ‘No, no, I’m going to live until I’m old and grey,’” she said, laughing that she still, at 53, has only 10 grey hairs.
Post a Comment