Gardeni

Anna fMarie D’Angeio

News Reporter
dangelo@nsnews.com

FLOWER Power takes
on a new meaning
when it comes to Mal
Motley.

The North Vancouver res-
ident was supposed io be
housebound this year, slowly
recuperating from brain
surgery.

Instead, Moucy not only

gor out and worked in his
beautiful garden, he won in
no less than two categories of
the North Shore Gardens
Contest, :

Motley and his wife of 22

years, Sharon, placed third in
-the small residential garden
category and second in the
best vegetable garden.

“Tt was just a fait accompli
that I wasn’t going to be in
the race this year. Then all of
a sudden in july I felt pretty
good and [I thought I'd
throw my hav in the ring,”
said Mal.

Mal is 55 and retired irom

'. his employment counselling

job for he pi vincial govern-

. Mai has spent the last year
_on a health roller coaster.
It <started last year at
_ Thanksgiving dinner when
‘Mal. and Sharon. were with
friends in. White Rock. ‘Mal
-) complained ‘of. a headache
and wrote it off as being part

of the flu. Mal was always in
good health and never had
headaches.The headache was
so strong he wanted to go
home. Sharon drove. Mal
said his headache was worse
when they got to North
Vancouver.

Sharon, a registered nurse
who is a supervisor at
Burnaby Mental Health,
drove to Lions Gate Hospital
instead of their Forrest Hill
home. Sharon was worried
her husband was going to
have a stroke or an aneurism.

Mal got a CAT scan.
There was no stroke. That

. was the guod news. ‘The bad

news was that Mal had a rel-
atively large tumor in his
brain.

The brain tumour was not
related to his headache. (Mal
was right abour the
headache. It was part of the
flu.)

Mal had a slow growin
brain tumour in his fourt
ventricle. Doctors said it had
been slowly getting larger for
about 20 years. The tumour
was in an area that controls
breathing, swallowing, bai-
ance and some cardio-vascu-
lar functions,

Mos: people with the
tumour are not diagnosed
until it is too late. They are
diagnosed when the tumour
has adhered to brain tissue
and can’t. be surgically
removed. These people go to
their doctors when they have

north shore nrnews

HEALTH

MAL Motley sits in his beautiful award-winning gar-
den in Nertiy Vancouver. Motley says his flowers
heiped him recover from brain surgery.

difficulty breathing, swallow-
ing or can’t walk jown stairs.

Vancouver Hospital neu-
rosurgeon Felix Durity con-
firmed the diagnosis. The
tumour was the size of a mar-
bie and stil! operable. It had
to be removed or Mal would
eventually die from it. :

“I said to my wife I. guess

STORE HOURS.
_ MON TO FRI 8AM TO SPx
SAT &SUN SAM TO 7PH

we should prepare for brain
surgery,” said Mal.

The dedicated gardener -.

thought the surgery couldn’t

happen at a worse time. It
was mid February and Mal
wanted to started gardening
in April, not convalesce from

See Surgery page 28

Sunday, October 24. 1999 — North Shore News — 27

DR. DEBRA ROVINELLI
DR. CORINNE KNIGHT
BR. NANCY HARDIN

WEST VANCOUVER OPTOMETRY CLINIC

1069 24th Street
(24th & Hays ood)

3030 Lonsdale Ave. North Vancouver
rex: 987-G155

TEL: 987 -6644