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stouffville suntribune thursday dec 2 2004 7 christmas season one of thanksgiving for don doner most of us take life for granted if we can roll outofbedinthe morning and crawl under the covers at night all is right with the world sometimes however an unavoidable accident or an unexplained illness makes one fully appreciate accom plishments of the past and assurances for the future stouffvilles don doner fits this mode mr doner is recovering from a rare disease called guillainbarre syndrome a disorder in which the bodys immune function attacks the nervous system while the cause is unknown research indicates in about half of all cases the syndrome follows a viral or bacterial infection such as the flu or common cold about two in every 100000 people are hit by the disease annually no one is immune its not hereditary or contagious if theres a positive side its that only five per cent of all patients fail to recover although some may contin ue to experience muscular pain and weakness for mr doner the initial symptom was a sore throat it disappeared in about three days but his condition suddenly worsened when a lump appeared making it impossible for him to swal low i began wondering if my time had come he said the situation became more acute when he had trouble keeping his balance my arms and legs felt like rubber he remembers after collapsing on the living room floor an ambulance was summoned wife marion praised the quick response they arrived while i was still on the phone she said mr doner spent 17 days in markham stouffville hospital during which time he went through dozens of examinations and tests they the doctors and nurses were wonderful mr doner says i cant praise them enough at one point no less than 20 people were assigned his case prominent in the pro cedure was dr monique forse a respirologist who took a special interest in him mr doner believes because treatment was immediate the seriousness of the situation was less ened the disease mr doner explains affects people dif ferent ways i was one of the lucky ones he says i had a lot- going for me including an roaming around with jim thomas abiding faith the good lord had his reasons he affirms if through my adversity some one is helped then theres a benefit to it all the response by family and friends was also reas suring he says prayers said in church east ridge evangelical missionary hospital visitations cards and telephone calls assisted in keeping his spirits high these are the advan tages of living in a small town he says mr doner knows of only two other people to have been stricken by this illness mervin harper of stouffville and clarence fockler of ringwood mr harpers bat tle almost proved fatal part ly because little was known about the disease 20 years ago he was able to empathize with everything mr doner was going through when the two dis cussed the malady during a hospital visit even now the exact cause of mr doners illness remains a mystery and while a virus in the blood is a certainty in his case it had no association with the flu at one point i couldnt move he recalls i couldnt even roll over throughout the ordeal he remained conscious and experienced little pain except for the fact they shoved needles into me right left and centre he notes his hospital diet consist ed mainly of baby formula and soup he lost 12 pounds he made up for this in part he says by attending a sumptuous turkey supper at goodwood they sure didnt make any money on me he jokes despite the many trials and tribulations seasonal lights will shine brighter this month at the doner home in stouffville if 11 be thanksgiving and christmas rolled into one knives if you need a tuneup in your knife drawer come and pay us a visit this week our complete line of swibo swiss knives are on sale at 20 off our regular price prices range from 1395 to 3995 see anyone at our meat counter for the knife that best suits your use are the knives good we use them to slice all our peameal bacon and everything else too they get a good workout at our store do you need a knife sharpened if you bought it from us well sharpen it free for the lifetime of the knife any others you have we charge 300 each see evan or mike onion oup to make this we saute lots of onions i mean lots in butter and olive oil we then cook them slowly to a very sweet caramelized consistency deglaze the pan its huge with guinness and brandy and add the stock and seasonings we then continue the slow cooking until the end of the day its really good serves 34 reg 549 cont california clementines if you are new to our store it wont take you long to realize that were in the basket business although ive never really counted them there must be thousands to choose from during the festive season we make them up with food goodies to fit any budget or taste including wine if youd like you can pick what youd like and well make it up as well or it can be boxed as you wish see tom robert or evan if you have a special request we offer good value these are the first clementines which are grown in north america california actually there are a few features which make this deal attractive the first is that shipping times are much shorter days instead of weeks by ship container from europe secondly im not sure that europe ships us their best stuff just a hunch thirdly these come in cardboard boxes easier on your curbside waste and last theyre really sweet french jsrte j you may need a bit of cheese if you have folks over and this i would be a great choice its double cream from france reg 299100 g our jim thomas is a stouflville resi dent who has written for area news papers for more than 50 years pork chops if you are german you would know this as kasseler we make these by using frenched pork loins which we then cure and slowly smoke with oak until they are fully cooked youfi find them easy to use because they only require warming or simmering perhaps with some mild sauerkraut anything else reg 599 1 whats happened it has been a great season for the sale of our evergreen and outdoor decorating supplies our last shipment arrives today so if youre still in need see us real soon t our squares in a social setting most people think of me as a shy retiring type actually its just that im very patient waiting much as a nearly submerged crocodile waits for the trays of squares to appear its then that i come to life as i fall upon them with a calm but absolute take no prisoners manner if youre looking for me at a party just find the squares not only are they real good theyre real easy as well you can leave them in the meal- size portions that we sell them in or you caii cut them into bitesize chunks ive made a study of both sizes and ive found it takes about the same time to clean off a tray you just have to work a bit harder when theyre cut smaller available in all our normal yearround flavours plus rocky mj road raspberry g ffp baileys nanaimos m m a off christmas cherry 1 ltffls and mincemeat week reg 249 each for the f most all of you know that the ymca is coming to town to be situated at the corner of 407 and kennedy rd what were doing to help out is donate all the money from the sale of bananas from now until december 12th how it will work is this you pay as muchas you want or even as little as you can afford for- the bananas at the display which we have moved for this occasion well- have a banana cookbook some celebrities selling bananas including the top banana from city hall mayor don cousens on this saturday at 1000 am be cautious i hear that hes a great salesman so grab a bunch of bananas not only are they good for you youll feel good helping out macand cheese this is doreens recipe for the- comfort food of all comfort foods the trick is to use extraold cheddar and the tradition al topping of buttered cracker crumbs f- serves 34 i reg 1095 off this week village grocer quality foods specials in effect until closing sundat december 5 hours mon 1100700 t tuesthurs 900700 fri 900800 sat 900600 sun 1000500 548 carlton road unionyille 9401770