THE

Informer

Volume XIV,
Number 3
Feb. 18, 1992

CAPILANO COLLEGE'S INTERNAL NEWSLETTER

First Year Student Wins Medal of Courage

When Roxanne
Weisman was 11 she
lost her arm to bone
cancer. Chemotherapy
ended the cancer, but
not her determination
to lead a normal life.

But she hasn’t
quite led a normal life.
She’s not your normal
20-year-old, because
few young women her

‘: age have contributed to
society as much as she
has.

Roxanne, a first
year Academic student
at Cap, has just re-
ceived the Medal of
Courage from the
Canadian Cancer
Society. The last time
the medal was
awarded, it went to Steve Fonyo for his run across
Canada. This time it honors Roxanne’s work with
youngsters who have cancer.

Her association with the Cancer Society began at
age 13, when she started attending Camp Good Times
on the Sunshine Coast, a camp for children who have
cancer. She began as a camper, then became a junior
counsellor, then a counsellor. As chairperson for the
Cancer Society’s teen program, she spends a lot of time
doing volunteer work. She edits a newsletter for the
camp and has helped produce a pamphlet for teens who
have cancer. She helps organize activities for them,
such as sightseeing trips and ski weekends. In an
average month Roxanne volunteers at least 30 hours to
the society.

Roxanne Weisman, honored with the Canadian Cancer Society's rarely
bestowed Medal of Courage, is congratulated by her parents Barbara and Stan.

“Whenever I’m
not at school I’m
there,” she says.

She took a
short break from
her volunteer work
when she became
the 1990 Miss
Gibsons.

“I was the first
person I heard of
who has one arm
and won a beauty
contest,” she said.
“TI entered it be-
cause I wanted to
show other teens
with cancer a posi-
tive image and that
life goes on.”

For Roxanne,
life is going on ata
busy pace. She is
aiming for a career in modelling, but says it runs a far
second to her continued work with the teen program.

“When one of the kids writes to me and says ‘You
brightened my day,’ that’s far more important than
getting my picture taken. I want to make a difference,”
she says.

CAPILANO COLLEGE