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wt ecqamistsjb ufppelijmw i99a people terry fox provided inspiration for woman to cross canada in a wheelchair leading the way to a cure by kathleen griffin staff writer joannie cowie keeps a picture of terry fox in her left shoe when shes down tired frustrated or close to giving up that picture never fails to lift her spirits wheeling across canada in an attempt to raise 5 million for neuro muscular research has its challenges its an exhausting yearlong grind of media attention soliciting sponsors and meet ing with members of the community now imagine doing it in a wheel chair cowie rolled through markham this week on her way north shes been on the road since jan 1 when she began her journey at cape spear newfoundland the same spot where fox started he gave me inspiration she said i found a hero in him no one will ever replace terry fox the whole fox family called when i was in nova scotia it was wonderful cowie has postponed prelaw cours es at the university of windsor and is homeschooling her two boys bradley 12 and alex 9 as they make the trip dubbed the canada cares tour i have the support of their school and for them to see canada this way is an opportunity we spent july 1 in ottawa and celebrated canada day with the prime minister heritage minister sheila copps and rick hansen it was amazing cowie was honoured at the air canada centre tuesday evening as she accepted gifts of sports memorabilia from extoronto maple leaf darryl sitter she plans an auction at the end of the tour her wheelchair which she calls the contraption is an oddlooking mix of mountain bike and steel chair cowie can manipulate using her upper body after a nearfatal asthma attack when she was six cowie contracted guillianbarre syndrome while in inten sive care it left me paralyzed its very rare and a very strange thing to happen while recovering from surgery on her spine at age 12 in 1980 cowie watched terry fox begin his marathon of hope i said to my mom someday i want to be just like him shes hoping someone can lend the team a sleepin trailer for the fall and winter months it will save hundreds of dollars on hotel rooms as they make their way west tomorrow cowie will speak at central park public school in markham andshell be back on the road saturday its the first tour ever for neuromus cular research and there are so many diseases those dollars can help multi ple sclerosis muscular dystrophy lou gehrigs disease parkinsons cowie said its all about faith every day i pray god will put the right people into our lives that day the people who will make it work you can track cowies progress on her website wwwcanadacarestouronca donations can be made at any branch- of the bank of montreal account number 24228091355 staff photosjoerd w1tteveen joannie cowie in her wheelchair visited york region this week while on her crosscanada trek to raise funds for neuromuscular research with her son alex 9 on the sup port vehicle precautions taken feds dsp from page 1 canadians during this delay in qualifying for ghip they could reactivate from inac tive tb they could get active tb ifs an unnecessary exposure we could lessen or eliminate the risk by removing bar riers to getting care mindell is also upset it takes ottawa as long as six months to provide local public health units with information about an infected immigrant this isnt the first time canadas immigration screening process has come under fire by yorkfe public health department two years ago associate medical offi cer of health dr karim kurji flagged the same concerns but while mindell said york is able to track 90 per cent of immigrants with tuberculosis kurji pegged the number at 25 per cent of the 340000 immi grants coming to canada annually kurji said 15000 are placed under surveil lance fortb half settle in ontario although tuberculosis can be cured it can be fatal if left untreated it is trans mitted through the air to others in close contact robyn walters an aurora mother of four believes she contracted inactive tb meaning she isnt contagious while helping kosovar refugees at base borden she is considering launching a class action lawsuit against the federal gov ernment which she says failed to prop erly warn volunteers and protect them from health risks immigration minister elinor caplan mpp for thomhill was unavailable for comment yesterday but her press secre tary rene merrier said canada screened kosovo refugees properly given the ravages of war he pointed out it was impossible to test the refugees until their arrival in canada at that point those with contagious diseases were isolated and treated we took all appropriate precau tions all those who had active tb were identified and isolated there was less than a handful merrier said