Chaya Takes On CBC's The National

A couple of days ago I received the news that my daughter Chaya was going to be featured on CBC’s The National, in a special on survivors of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

She didn’t tell me though, her mom did.

Chaya waited until a day before the broadcast and then sent me an email, which was far from descriptive but just mentioned that the program would be aired Monday night at 10 p.m.

I immediately emailed many of my family and friends in Canada to let them know. And on the night of the broadcast, I had about 45 minutes to hurry home from work so that I could view it. I imagined a celebratory newscast and was quite excited. After my long experience I should have known better!

I was quite disappointed when I got home, to hear a voice message from my daughter stating that CBC had bumped the broadcast up to the earlier 6 p.m. news.

Just in case they had made a mistake, I tuned into The National at 10 p.m. anyway, and the reason for the program move became clear. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who had just delivered the national budget, had agreed to appear on air to be interviewed live and questioned by viewers.

Of course, the not-surprising news was that the Tory government, in their affluent wisdom had decided to ignore the problem of homelessness and poverty in Canada…again.

This is terrible timing and as far as I can see, a kind of reflection of the ostrich-with-head-in-the-sand approach to the rising problems in the streets and neighborhoods of communities across Canada.

The biggest disappointment for me was the spin the CBC put on my daughter’s survival. The program basically focused on the 25% chance she had of recurrent cancers after treatment, rather than a celebration of her courageous battle and survival.

Chaya is a warrior though, and although I am sure she was disappointed with the final edit, her spirit shines through.

I love her response to the negativity from the interviewer. Chaya, you are my hero!

Below is a link to my good friend Danny's website...he has posted a link to Chaya's CBC interview video:


Hi Ted,
I am still scavenging around the CBC servers for a higher quality video of Chaya's spot, but I got one converted into a Google video so its more easily playable. It is posted here

www.dannydang.com/blog/hodgkins-survivor/

Danny