Subjects: Psychology

Sharon and Gary Rosenfeldt were putting a new life together in Vancouver when it was changed forever by a contact with Canada’s most infamous serial killer, Clifford Olson. Their son Daryn was cruelly murdered by him and in the years since his death, they have struggled to make sense of an evil most of us cannot begin to comprehend. And although personal healing comes one day at a time when remembering a son who never got to grow up, they have established Victims of Violence and have also advocated vigorously for other criminal justice reforms.

Tammy Crawford’s nightmare began soon after she showed up for work on May 31st, 1997. David Walker, who was a dangerous offender out on a day pass from a psychiatric facility, brutally assaulted her as she worked in her mother’s store. She was lucky to get out alive and told the courts that she wanted to have the publication ban lifted, declaring she did not want to be an anonymous statistic. But the years since that morning have been traumatic. Diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, she has had to contend with panic attacks and nightmares that never seem to end, while other family members have had to unravel their own issues of guilt and responsibility. Today she counts her blessings in renewed family relationships and says she now knows what is truly important in life.

Louise Binder was a successful lawyer in a new relationship, when her life was turned upside down forever. She was diagnosed with AIDS, transmitted to her by her husband before their marriage ended. In the immediate aftermath of the diagnosis, she had to contend with her sense of betrayal at the hands of her husband and her own rapidly deteriorating health. Today, with the help of new drugs that are keeping the disease at bay, Louise has found a fresh voice in advocating on behalf of marginalised AIDS sufferers in this country and abroad. She lives every precious day one at a time, knowing her strengths and doing the work she considers important.

Moira Farr will never forget Valentine’s Day, 1994, the day she found her boyfriend Daniel Jones’ note tacked to the living room door. It said, “Do not come in. Please call the police.” In the aftermath of his suicide, she had to come to terms with life without him and found a perspective that came, in part, with the writing of her book: After Daniel: A Suicide Survivor’s Tale. This writing helped her transform her own personal chaos into meaning by staring down “this monstrous thing called suicide”.

The Pace Family carry a deadly legacy, the gene for Huntington’s disease, a condition which causes the sufferer to lose memory, mobility, the ability to speak clearly and to make rational decisions. Mother Iggie started to show symptoms in 1992 and her three children have watched the heart-breaking progress of the disease, while also confronting the uncertainty of whether they carry the gene themselves. When daughter Anne took the test, she had to decide how she would tell her siblings the outcome. In the meantime, care for their mother has become increasingly difficult and they contemplate whether to place her in a nursing home.

Shant Ohannessian’s life changed abruptly when his wife of four years, Shirley-Anne, was struck by a bus. Since her death, he has struggled with a devastating sense of loss, not only of his dreams for the future, but of a God he feels has deserted and betrayed him. As he contemplates rebuilding his life and identity in a new way, he looks to family and renewal of career as chief supports. Shant talks about the difficulty of inventing a completely new person.

Gordana Knezevic knows all about war, having lived in Sarajevo under the fire of Serbian guns on a daily basis from 1992 to 1994. As a Serbian journalist living in a multi-cultural city, her newspaper was the target of Serb missiles and guns, largely because of its multi-ethnic staff. Two of her children were sent out of the city for the sake of safety, but reconciliation has been difficult in the aftermath of the war and this decision. Today, Gordana and her family struggle to reinvent themselves in peacetime Canada, despite the horrors of the past and the difficulties of the present.

Jerry Meland had two strokes in the space of six months, events that profoundly altered the way he looked at himself and his life. In the aftermath of these cerebral events, he found himself a beaten-up character, shell-shocked, disoriented and dazed, desperately trying to make sense of the confusion. He has made a recovery that is nothing short of miraculous, and he credits his wife and family with the support that made it all possible. Today he appreciates life more and is learning that moderation, for him, means greater happiness.