Seven-time cancer survivor is in remission!!!

In December 2009, Saskatchewan resident Dionne Warner was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer in her liver, lungs and bones. These were her fifth, sixth and seventh cancer diagnoses since 1995. She'd already overcome breast, brain and two bouts of liver cancer. But strong, beautiful, fun-loving Dionne did not let this news destroy her sense of humour or her incredible will to live.

Dionne went into her first chemotherapy treatment in December 2009 with attitude! After volunteering for the Allan Blair Cancer Centre in Regina for the previous seven years, sharing her story of survival and hope with patients and their families, Dionne decided she had to continue to share that message even though she was now a patient again. She put on a 'Cancer Sucks' T-shirt, some white war paint and became the Pink Warrior, morphing into Warner Warrior 'D' as time when on.

Within a few treatments, she added costumes for Graham as well to her weekly chemo treatment 'themes' and the two of them began dancing into chemo to bring hope and laughter to everyone they met.
By December 2011, Dionne and Graham had presented 77 different themes and brought hope to hundreds of patients and supporters - through their volunteering in the community and with the help of our book Never Leave Your Wingman: Dionne and Graham Warner's Story of Hope by Deana J. Driver. Buy the Never Leave Your Wingman book!

   

   

Shortly after Graham wooed Dionne to Regina from Toronto in 2001, she was diagnosed with liver cancer. They were engaged to be married, but Dionne told Graham he did not have to marry her now that she was sick again - she would return to her family and oncologists in Ontario and he could carry on with his life. An experienced pilot, Graham quickly replied: "You never leave your wingman."

He has been by her side ever since and they have fought these cancer battles together, with all the courage and gusto befitting world-class champions!

Immediately after Dionne's Stage IV diagnosis in 2009, Graham began researching options for treatment besides the chemotherapy that Dionne would need. They visited a doctor of natural medicine in Regina and were given information about a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico where Dionne could receive complementary treatment that involved a special diet and heating her blood to kill cancer cells. They travelled to Mexico twice and kept Dionne on a special diet along with natural supplements and chemotherapy treatments throughout the past two years.

In December 2010, Dionne was taken off chemotherapy for eight weeks - to give her body a break and to be able to take a PET scan (positron emission tomography) which is more detailed than a CT scan in finding cancer cells.

On January 24, 2011, her oncologist told her the PET scan results. There are NO CANCER CELLS anywhere! She is in remission!!! Read the Regina Leader-Post.article on this walking miracle!

So, in the spirit of never-ending hope, we celebrate this wonderful news about this amazing, incredible woman and her never-failing wingman ....

Cancer can be beaten! Together, we can win this battle!  Woo Hoo!!!

  

  Along with Dionne, Graham and their friend Crystal - It's Time To Dance!!!

P.S. Dec. 2014 update - In April 2012, Dionne went back to her volunteering at the Allan Blair Cancer Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Unfortunately, in August 2012, cancer was detected in her liver. This was the fourth liver cancer diagnosis for her. Dionne was signing Never Leave Your Wingman books with me at the hospital gift shop the very next day. She had not even given herself a full 24 hours this time to let the diagnosis sink in. Her immediate reaction this time was: “It’s only one cancer this time, not four. They did not say ‘Stage 4’, and it’s not in my brain – so bring it on!” She has been in treatment since then. By August 2014, her tumours had shrunk by 35% and then a further 40%.` Way to go, Dionne!
You might also enjoy this November 2014 blog post about a recent cancer awareness campaign at which Dionne was centre stage.

 

Paralympian nominated for Sports Award

Saskatchewan Paralympian Colette Bourgonje, the inspiring subject of Mary Harelkin Bishop's book Moving Forward, is one of three women nominated for Female Athlete of the Year for the 2011 Saskatchewan Sports Award!

Congratulations, Colette!

Colette Bourgonje was Saskatchewan’s lone Paralympian in 2010 who, on March 14, won Canada’s first medal at the 2010 Paralympic Games in Whistler. She finished the Games with two medals - a silver and bronze in cross-country sit-ski events - and also received the prestigious Whang Young Dai award for the women who most embodies the spirit of the Paralympic Games.

In June 1980, Colette was in her final year of high school in Porcupine Plain, Saskatchewan. Her family’s home was filled with medals and trophies that she had earned in track and field, basketball, volleyball and badminton and she was well on her way to becoming a world-class athlete. Her name was being mentioned for athletic scholarships to American universities and colleges, but Colette wanted to run on the University of Saskatchewan track team and become a Physical Education teacher in her home province.

Then a car accident just two months before her Grade 12 graduation changed everything. Her back was broken. Her spine was 98% severed. She would never be able to run again.

Colette Bourgonje had always been a spirited girl with boundless energy and a will to succeed. Within a short time, she was adjusting to her new circumstances as a paraplegic and pursuing different dreams. She enrolled at the University of Saskatchewan and in 1984, she became the first disabled student to graduate from the school’s College of Physical Education and the first female student in a wheelchair to graduate in Physical Education from any Canadian university. Not satisfied with just one degree, Colette pursued a Bachelor of Education and graduated as a teacher a short time later.

She discovered the world of wheelchair racing and quickly excelled at that sport. Cross-country sit-skiing was next on her list of challenges, and Colette was soon a world-class athlete in that sport as well. While working as an elementary school teacher in Saskatoon part-time, Colette continued to pursue her love of sports. In 1992, at age 30, she competed in her first Paralympic Games as a cross-country sit-skier. A few months later, she competed in her second Paralympic Games, as a wheelchair racer.

Since then, Colette Bourgonje has become one of Canada's most successful disabled athletes. As a teacher and world-class competitor, she is a role model and an inspiration. She put her teaching career on hold to work towards her ninth Paralympic Games in 2010. And as usual, Colette triumphed against the odds.

  Colette Bourgonje competing at the 2010 Paralympic Games in Whistler.

Mary Harelkin Bishop is a Saskatoon teacher who has been so inspired by Colette Bourgonje’s triumphs and struggles that she wrote Colette’s story to honour her perseverance, dedication and optimistic spirit.

Mary Harelkin Bishop signing books with Colette Bourgonje at the launch of Moving Forward, Sask Pavilion, 2010 Games.

Paralympian Colette Bourgonje (centre) happily shares her 2010 Games bronze and silver medals with Moving Forward publisher Deana Driver (left) and author Mary Harelkin Bishop (right).

Praise for the story

      Al and I were in Wynyard last Saturday night for the Prairie Women On Snowmobiles’ Shades of Pink fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society. We had a lot of fun and made some new friends. I was invited to be the guest speaker, sharing information on the Never Leave Your Wingman book I wrote about seven-time cancer survivor Dionne Warner and her supportive, fun-loving husband Graham. Dionne was away, sitting on a warm beach in Los Cabos, during a break from her chemo treatments or she would have been there to speak in person about her story of hope. So I was honoured to fill in for her.
      I received many compliments about my speech afterwards. One of the best compliments came when I told a woman, “I hope you enjoy the book,” and she replied: “I will enjoy it. If your writing is like your speaking, I am sure it will be very good.”


Other things that happened there:

-        As we walked in, a teenage girl asked me, “Would like a lei?” It made me smile, but I was a little puzzled when Al was not given the same offer. (He was one of only six men in a roomful of 200 women, so it kind of made sense but still...) Later in the evening, Sheila Doidge Campbell, (who had invited me based on meeting Dionne and Graham and Al and me at the town's Swim For Life fundraising event in July) asked Al why he didn’t have a lei. Al replied that he didn’t think a 13-year-old girl would be very comfortable asking him if he 'wanted a lei,' nor would he have been in accepting said offer. So Sheila gave Al one lei for himself and another for me... and joked about how she had lei'd him and all the other men there that night (Prairie humour - we thought it was very funny!) When Al told her that I already had a lei, she told him to keep the extra one… so here we are - after getting lei'd in Wynyard...

 I got lei’d once at the event and then that Al got lei’d twice.

At least I thought it was funny.

-         A woman came into the event happily holding up her copy of Never Leave Your Wingman, ready for me to sign it. Her 49-year-old brother had died of lung cancer in May only five months after diagnosis. He had never smoked a day in his life. It was sad. She said she was so glad when she found out I would be there so I could sign her copy. “It was an incredible book. I couldn’t put it down. I read it over and over, then picked it up and read parts of it again. Very inspiring. I’m so glad that the two of you (Dionne and I) got together. It’s so much inspiration for so many people.” She had also read the Never Give Up book I wrote about Ted Jaleta. “It’s very good.”

-         A woman who had purchased  a copy of Wingman at the Swim For Life there in July said she had read it in one day. “I don’t read very much but I couldn’t put it down.”

-        As we were leaving to head back to Regina that night, Sheila and I exchanged hugs and agreed to keep in touch. Then she added, “And you tell that Dionne girl to keep fighting!”

Absolutely. Dionne and all of her Angel Network of supporters wouldn't have it any other way.

Thank you, ladies of Wynyard and area! It was a great event and I'm sure we'll see you again.

More Never Leave Your Wingman books ordered!

We`ve just ordered more copies of Never Leave Your Wingman: Dionne and Graham Warner`s Story of Hope by Deana J. Driver! The first printing is almost sold out after only six months!

It`s very exciting to know that people are enjoying this fascinating true story. It`s even better knowing that Dionne and Graham Warner`s journey of courage, hope and love - in the face of Dionne`s seventh cancer diagnosis - is helping so many people.

Thank you to everyone who has read this amazing book so far. We invite those of you who wish to order Never Leave Your Wingman to order a signed copy (signed by author Deana Driver as well as by Dionne and Graham) from our website: www.driverworks.ca.

If you wish, you can post your positive comments about the book on our DriverWorks Ink Facebook page or you can post a favourable review or rate the book (five stars would be lovely, thanks) on the Chapters Indigo website - the main Canadian bookstore that is selling the book.

Here an excerpt from the Never Leave Your Wingman book:
         
On Wednesday evening, March 28, 2001 the emergency-room doctor came into Dionne’s room and she knew immediately that something was wrong. The doctor quickly noticed that Graham was not in the room and asked Dionne, ‘Where is your fiancé?’

Dionne had insisted that Graham keep with his regular Wednesday evening schedule and have supper with his children. “He was hesitant to go but I told him, ‘Just go. I’ll be fine on my own. This is time with your kids and it is very important for you to do this.’ ”

When Dionne told the doctor that Graham was out with his children, the doctor said he’d come back later when Graham was there, but Dionne would not hear of it. “I said, ‘No, you obviously came in to tell me something.’

“He said, ‘I don’t think you should be alone when I tell you this.’

“I said, ‘Just tell me, so I can have some time to go through this myself to figure out what I’m going to do next.’ I knew it could not be good news.”

Finally, the doctor relented and told Dionne that he still could not find out what was causing her pain, “but with this one other test that I did, I did not expect to find what I did.”

“Well, what is it?” Dionne asked him.

“You have liver cancer.”...

… When Graham returned after supper, Dionne told him the news. It was one of the most memorable moments of her life. “I told him that he didn’t have to marry me. I would go back to Ontario. My family was there and I’d be okay. He didn’t have to worry about this and take all of this on himself. And Graham, the man that he is, said, ‘You never leave your wingman.’

“It took my breath away. He told me, ‘I could get sick with cancer. Would you leave me?’ I said, ‘No – but women are wired differently.’ ”

Graham repeated, “I’m not going anywhere. We’ll get through this together.”

Dionne called her family again and told them she would not be moving back to Ontario. “I’m going to stick it out here. Graham and I will get through this together. We’re going to find a good doctor here to look after me.’

“I knew I’d be okay,” she says. “Regina would be my new home and I’d be okay.”

Author Deana Driver (left) with Dionne and Graham Warner

Merry Christmas, happy readers!

Hello everyone! Dionne Warner and I recently spent two days signing Never Leave Your Wingman books at the Pasqua Hospital Gift Shop in Regina, SK. - just down the hall from the Allan Blair Cancer Clinic.

It was an emotional, awe-inspring, sometimes heartbreaking but mostly fun time as we talked with cancer patients, hospital staff and visitors. Dionne shared her personal story of battling cancer seven times (she's fighting Stage IV liver, lung and bone cancer right now) and we were privileged to talk with patients about their own cancer journeys and how they can stay stronger to fight this devastating disease.

Time and time again, I watched in admiration as Dionne gave these patients a little dash of her courage and hope, some heartfelt hugs and a few laughs to boost their strength and encourage them to keep up the good fight. As Dionne would say... "Show your cancer who's the boss!"

So from us to you.... have a wonderful Christmas and a happy holiday season! Enjoy each precious day you have been given. Share it with loved ones and appreciate all that you have.

Take care,

Deana and Al Driver, DriverWorks Ink

Two funny cats - will live on forever

We are saddened by the deaths of Oliver and Maudie, beloved cats of author Sharon Gray. These precocious, gentle Siamese cats passed away within days of each other at the age of 18 years. They were the inspiration for the beautiful book Letters to Jennifer: From Maudie & Oliver in which Sharon Gray presents her cats' look at the world - for the express purpose of amusing and soothing humans, especially her dear friend Jennifer who was ill at the time.

Maudie was the beautiful prima donna cat - watching for suitors from her perch in the living room, never causing any problems for anyone (in her own modest opinion), and chastising her brother Oliver for being kind of dumb sometimes. Maudie knew how to properly handle toy mice - by ignoring them completely and letting her silly brother and her LIP (Live-In Person Sharon Gray) deal with them - and how to gain favour with every man she ever met - feline or human. 

Maudie (above)

Oliver never got enough love - because he lived with his prima donna sister Maudie, of course. He had a penchant for making messes and causing havoc, but his loving nature and speech impediment endeared him to his LIP and all other humans. Maudie always enjoyed it when Oliver snuggled up beside her and helped her with her grooming.

Oliver (above)



Maudie and Oliver had specific views on how the world should operate - giving advice to humans and cats alike:

"Naps are best taken on top of the TV... Short naps are good, too.... Dogs are noisy and do not know how to groom themselves.... Green wool tastes the best (in Oliver's opinion).... It is possible to go around a table onto every lap without ever touching the floor.... Structured board meetings with your LIP are necessary to make your rules known.... Computers each come with their own bald, boring mouse. Imagine!"

Maudie and Oliver will be missed, but their amusing and loving personalities will live on in Letters to Jennifer From Maudie & Oliver by Sharon Gray... available from www.driverworks.ca

The little coat is 67 years old!

Sixty-seven years ago during the Second World War, Canadian soldiers who were fighting the Nazis in the Netherlands gave a 10-year-old Dutch girl a special Christmas gift. They asked a seamstress in that village to take a wool Canadian Army blanket and make it into a coat for young Sussie Cretier, who had become a little sister and a good luck charm for the soldiers during their stand in that part of Holland. On December 25, 1944, Canadian tank commander Bob Elliott from Calgary, Alberta, handed little Sussie a Christmas gift package that included the coat and a few other items. Then Bob continued shooting at the Nazis and Sussie ran home to show her parents this amazing gift.
More than 35 years later, Bob Elliott returned to the Netherlands to visit some of the Dutch people he had met during the war, including Sussie's family. Bob and Sue quickly reconnected. He was surprised and delighted to see that she still had the little coat. To Sue, it was the most precious gift she had ever received. Within a short time, Sue followed Bob back to Canada and brought her coat with her.

Saskatchewan author Alan Buick wrote about this fascinating true story in The Little Coat: The Bob and Sue Elliott Story. Here, he talks about the book:

  

Author Alan Buick talks about The Little Coat

Dagnabit, doodles and doots!

To get a true appreciation of the hilarity and clever humour writing in Ron Petrie's book Running of the Buffalo, one only needs to look at the Index (sort of)...

This is just under the letter 'D':

'Dagnabit, Danny DeVito, Davidson, Don Cherry, doodad, doodie, doodled, Doodles, doodling, doots, Drake, Drinkwater, Duck Lake, dumbass, and Dummer.'

And one of my favourite sections of the Index (sort of)... under the letter 'P':

'Palmer, Paradise Hill, pee, pfft, pickamaniac, Pipestone Creek, Pile-O'-Boners, Plato, Plenty, pobbycock, Porcupine Plain, Primate, Prince Albert, and Psst.'

And what exactly is Ron's book about? Now you can hear it from Ron himself....

Video of Ron Petrie speaking about his book

Who likes a good book?

We met many fascinating, avid readers this past week at our Canadian Western Agribition trade show booth.

Here's a small sample of the comments we received:
- "There's nothing better than books."
- "I got a good recommendation of your work from the used bookstore in the Value Village Mall. She said they can't keep them in there." (It's great that people are enjoying our books - new or used.)
- "I've read Never Leave Your Wingman, Never Give Up, Just a Bunch of Farmers, My Zayde, The Little Coat and Prairie Pilot. I only read true stories. I see there are a couple of books here on your leaflet that I haven't read. I'm going to go sit down and read this and see what they are about."
- "I'm writing a book right now. Can I contact you to get some advice and talk about publishing it?" (Yes, of course!)
- "I bought Running of the Buffalo and my 13-year-old read it cover to cover. He laughed his pants off!"

(Left to right) Al and Deana Driver, Ron Petrie, Dionne Warner, Alan Buick.

Winter! Time for a good book!

With the first major snowfall of this winter, many Prairie people wonder about driving conditions and getting safely from Point A to Point B. Having been born and raised on the Prairies - I on a farm north of Edmonton AB and Al in the city of Regina SK - we know it's been done before and will continue to get done, so we aren't that worried about it. The thoughts we are interested in are the happy ones that revolve around beautiful snow-covered trees, frost-tinted windows, sparkling colourful Christmas lights and what to buy for friends and family this Christmas. May we suggest some books?
Our most popular titles this fall (available from www.driverworks.ca) are:

Never Leave Your Wingman: Dionne and Graham Warner's Story of Hope by Deana J. Driver - The true story of Dionne Warner, a fun-loving seven-time cancer survivor, and her devoted humour-filled husband Graham, who dance their way into Dionne's weekly chemo treatments in Regina, Saskatchewan – in costume – bringing laughter and hope to everyone they meet. This is an inspiring unforgettable story and a lesson in love. ($24.95 )

The Little Coat: The Bob and Sue Elliott Story by Alan J. Buick - The true story of 19-year-old Bob Elliott, an Alberta soldier who fought the Nazis during the Second World War, and Sussie Elliott, a feisty 10-year-old Dutch girl who became a good-luck charm to the Canadian soldiers fighting at the Maas River. An army-style coat the soldiers gave to little Sussie for Christmas 1944 was the start of a lifelong love between Bob and Sue. This story will melt your heart this Christmas. ($19.95)

Letters to Jennifer: From Maudie & Oliver by Sharon Gray - The daily antics of two precocious but worldly Siamese cats are captured in 56 amusing and clever letters written by Winnipeg author Sharon Gray as a way to keep in touch with Jennifer, a friend undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. Whether basking in the sunlight on the kitchen windowsill, falling off the TV set during a nap, or having a 'family meeting' to set their LIP (Live-In Person) straight on the rules of the house, Maudie and Oliver's unique cat's-eye view of the world with entertain and delight readers. ($16.95)

Running of the Buffalo by Ron Petrie - As a humour columnist for the Regina Leader-Post, Ron Petrie has pondered many topics including: Can one actually lose weight on the mini Oh Henry chocolate bar diet? Is it gotch or gitch? Can a man actually change the diapers of three squirming babies on the same night? And why is it that some farm boys never learn French? A 'bathroom' reader that will add some giggles and guffaws to your Christmas season. ($19.95)

Prairie Pilot: Lady Luck was on My Side; The Stories of Walter D. Williams; Compiled and Edited by Deana J. Driver - Walter Williams was an unofficial air ambulance pilot and a flying taxi service to dozens of families and individuals in west central Saskatchewan and east central Alberta in the 1950s. A welder by trade, Walter began answering calls of distress as soon as he got his little two-seater Aeronca plane. Taking chances and ignoring common sense, Walter flew in snowstorms and landed in farmers' fields to transport pregnant women, injured children, RCMP, teachers, doctors, criminals and thrill-seekers. ($21.95)

Happy Winter Reading!

Mourning the death of a Prairie pioneer

Art Mainil, a feisty, determined southeast Saskatchewan farmer, has passed away after a battle with cancer . Mainil was the main man behind the creation of the Weyburn Inland Terminal, the first independent farmer-owned-and-operated inland grain terminal in Canada in 1976.

I had the pleasure of interviewing him in 2001 when WIT commissioned me to write a book about their first 25 years as an organization. Just A Bunch of Farmers: The Story of Weyburn Inland Terminal 1976-2001 was my first book and it was a wonderful process interviewing and working with these men who changed the way that all Canadian farmers are paid for their grain.

WIT started in 1974 as an idea to improve the country's grain-handling system. By 2001, "just a bunch of farmers" (as they called themselves when they got in trouble with the bank or needed an out - "What do we know? We're just a bunch of farmers?") had worked through tough and prosperous times and become very successful. WIT had racked up an impressive list of 14 'firsts' including being the first grain elevator to do protein testing on grain and pay farmers for the protein content of their grain, the first to offer custom drying, and the first to pay farmers for the foreign material and refuse in grain.

By 2001, Art Mainil had long been away from WIT operations, but he was still committed to the terminal and graciously agreed to talk with me about the start of WIT. I arrived at his farm and was greeted by a man of my height who appeared tough and a little gruff but hard-working, principled and certain of what should be happening in Canadian agriculture and how he could make that happen. Art reminded me very much of my father, a tough little Ukrainian farmer, and we shared a laugh when I told him that.

Art was quick to not accept credit for being the instigator of the creation of WIT. He and other farmers had long been talking about how to improve the system and Art had wondered, after doing some custom-combining in the U.S. and seeing inland terminals there, why there couldn't be such a thing in Saskatchewan. Clarence (Clare) Taylor and Glen McEwen, other farmers who became WIT directors, were two of many men I interviewed who gave Mainil credit where credit was due.

"We would have never had the terminal if it hadn't been for Art," said Taylor.

"You couldn't help but catch his fever," said McEwen. "It was something that needed to be done because nobody else was doing it."

WIT is in its 35th year of operation and will be inducted into the Saskatchewan Business Hall of Fame later this month.

Rest in peace, Art Mainil. You were a man ahead of your time. You will be missed.


http://www.leaderpost.com/news/Grain+marketing+advocate+Mainil+mourned/5678400/story.html

So ... what about e-books?

We've been asked from time to time (probably one out of every 60 or so people that we meet), whether our books are available as e-books. Our response is, "Not yet, but we're looking into it." 

The world of book publishing is changing daily, especially that of e-book publishing - as evidenced by today's big announcement that (Chapters) Indigo Books & Music Inc. has sold its Kobo e-reader business to Rakuten Inc, one of the world's largest e-commerce companies, for $315 million.

For the past year, we've been considering taking a few of our book titles and creating digital files for e-readers. We were waiting for the industry standards to settle down a bit. This spring, we thought that epub was chosen as the standard format to use, then we found out it isn't necessarily so. The costs of translating a manuscript into one that is available via an electronic reader device is not as costly as it once was, but it takes time and skill and money that could be used for other things - like producing more physical books. The problems relate more to informing readers of your e-book, marketing and selling online, making sure the information is accurately translated to the new format, and keeping up with the latest technology. Whew! It sounds exhausting and a little overwhelming for a small publishing house like ours - but we aren't dismissing it altogether.

At a recent meeting of the Saskatchewan Publishers Group, we were given advice by a fellow publisher who told us not to worry about the swarm of new e-technology - which can feel like an army of soldiers on horseback coming at us. He suggested, "Just pick a horse and get on it."

So we're carefully wandering around the horse barns now, looking for the most sturdy, reliable animal. Once we've found the right one, we'll carefully jump onto its back and see where it leads us.

On to Assiniboia!

We're on our way to Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, for the Mistletoe craft and trade show tonight and tomorrow! These shows provide us with great opportunities to meet the people who buy our books and to chat with folks who don't yet know about our Saskatchewan and Prairie stories. We always come back wtih some fun comments and compliments, and we add more stories to our collection of memories about the people of this province. Have a fun weekend, everyone! It might be the last one before it snows!