The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

172 bullock drive unit 31 stouffville weekender financial services 4z18660 74e bed choice u jfete term gi c 1 yr 3875 3 yr 5125 5 yr 585 rates subject to change g1cs rrsps mutual funds life insurance annuities rrfs tax preparation mortgages 137 main st n n markham 471 23 1 1 vol13 no 1 a metrolmid community newspaper saturday january 41997 28 pages 50i 7iw christmas miracle for girl in coma by kathleen griffin staff reporter they are calling it a miracle but stouffvilles riitta don ahue doesnt care whether it was divine intervention or riot all she knows is her daughter katriina 17 came back to her two days before christmas katriina suffered severe brain injuries in a september car crash at hwys 7 and 48 her injuries left her in a deep coma for three days then in a lighter but still a comatose state since then the grade 11 student at markham district high school spent more than six weeks at sunnybropk health science centre before being trans ferred to markham stouffville hospital to be closer to her stouffville family hi and on dec 23 katriina opened her eyes and said hi to her sister melissa bell i was at the chiropractors at the time melissa came run ning in saying katriina was awake said mom riitta new for 97 nina grace delapa was the first baby born to a stouffville couple in 1997 the first baby came into the world at markham stouffville hospi tal at 850 am new years day proud parents are tony and esther delapa photosteve somerville nina is stouffvilles first baby nina grace delapa made her debut as whitchurchstouffvilles first baby of the year at 850 am on new years day the first child for proud parents esther and tony delapa nina grace who was born at markham stouffville hospital weighed in at a healthy 8 pounds 13 ounces my wife went into labor at mid night and the baby was due on dec 31 so it was perfect timing said tony everything went really well and she is doing fine shes a beautiful baby with an fine head of hair more than her dad added tony with a chuckle esther is also doing well and moth er and baby came home from the hospital thursday kate gilderdale i ran to the hospital and she was awake and alert i said can you say mom and she did i couldnt believe it on sept 21 katriina was a passenger in her friend tracy rickards car rickard was forced to pull over about 1115 pm after noticing smoke coming from a flat tire after pulling over two good samaritans emmett dillon 46 and jere my powers 19 stopped to help her change the flat as the four walked behind rickards car to put the tire in the trunk they were slammed by a westbound vehicle which hit three of the four critically injuring katriina and dillon powers who escaped serious injury had the presence of mind to call 911 on his cellular phone and wave off cars from the two injured lying in the road the driver of the westbound car monica alexander 28 of scarborough was charged with careless driving her trial is slated for feb 3 dillon was released from sunnybrook after being air lifted there the night of the accident about two weeks- later wheelchair he was still in a wheelchair but is expected to make a full recovery but katriina remained unconscious in an interview with mom riitta a few weeks after the accident she saidit could be two years before they know the full extent of her injuries shes always been a tough cookie and its going to be a long road but im not giving up hope she said then i never gave up hope she said monday katriina has a lot of work ahead of her theres no doubt about that but everyone at donahue the hospital is calling her a christmas miracle their christmas angel katriina has months of reha bilitation ahead of her her speech is impaired so shell have to learn to talk all over again she has to learn to walk too and run and work on her coor- dination and bal ance its not going to be easy but i see improvement every day every time she does something were all just ecstatic riitta said she wants to come home but the doctors and nurses tell her she must be the best she can be before she can go home so thats what shes working on riitta said doctors dont know if katriina will make a full recovery or not but she has faith i told her shell be walking by spring she said with a severe brain injury like katriinas almost every thing is up in the air but i promised her she would be walking by spring thats the goal the joy and hope in her voice is unmistakable thrilled her two other daughters jasmine 19 and melissa 14 are thrilled as well she said it really was almost four months of hell for all of us but every day that goes by shes a little better shell keep work ing and her sisters will do the same riitta excused herself then she was sneaking katri ina a soft bagel and cream cheese for lunch wiwiafimhbs 1 k wvlkvil iil 4 y ibbf wjjjfisb i fs wm eas j cssi s fes