Lynne MacDonald inspired to make her Champions for Charity vision come true for MacKids By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca WATERLOO— Lynne MacDonald, fists up and chin down, stood in the boxing ring by herself and searched for an opponent who wasn’t there. Bright light cascaded down and engulfed her. The surrounding crowd below, a cheering mass…
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Champion for Charity Michelle Clark ready to fight for son Lincoln and MacKids By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca BADEN — Sixty-five roses are wrapped snugly around Michelle Clark’s heart. They bloom perpetually for her 11-year-old son Lincoln. You see, Lincoln has cystic fibrosis, a serious genetic disease affecting the lungs and digestive system. So what do 65…
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Darren Johnston explodes out of the banker’s box to fight for MacKids www.champsforcharity.ca By Jeff Hicks KITCHENER — You’ve heard of a banker’s box? Stiff, cardboard and rectangular. Full of files and documents. Sealed with a lid and stored in the musty darkness of the murky basement. Now, meet Darren Johnston. He’s the banker who…
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Jeritt Raney ready to make his gutsy boxing debut for MacKids and Champions for Charity By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca KITCHENER — A throaty horn blares through town every summer morning like a bellowing alarm clock. The Chi-Cheemaun, the Big Canoe, announces it is getting ready to ferry from the Tobermory tip of Bruce Peninsula across open waters…
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Art Janzen leaves cancer behind him to become a Champion for Charity By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca WATERLOO — Art Janzen inhaled deeply. One of his 57-year-old ribs ached. A punch he took during boxing training as one of Mandy Bujold’s 20 Champions for Charity left the partner and project manager at Menno S. Martin Contractor gasping for breath. Much…
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Champion for Charity Mitch Blaine embraces adrenaline surge of helping local kids hospitals By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca KITCHENER — A spectral mist floated into the invigorating alpine air above Alta Lake. Almost seven years ago, the glacier water was frigidly foreboding and enchanting all at once. Mitch Blaine, elbows up and surrounded by hundreds of…
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Champion for Charity Faune Lang is a fierce mom-of-four fighting for MacKids and all kids By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca BADEN — Five years ago, life unleashed a dizzying combination on Faune Lang. Cervical cancer. Surprise pregnancy. A rare lung condition for her unborn child. Low blow. Jab of joy. Lower blow. But the mother of…
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Whatever the MacKids choose — even the Paw Patrol theme — Mitch Wilson will walk out to as a Champion for Charity By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca DUNDAS — The song selection is out of his hands. Or his paws. Mitch Wilson, one of Mandy Bujold’s 20 Champions for Charity, will leave it up to the…
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Arnold Yescas channels brash Nicaraguan boxer to fight for Champions for Charity and MacKids By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca KITCHENER — Ricardo Mayorga once held up a chicken leg as he chowed down during a Las Vegas weigh-in. “He was a scrapper,” laughed Arnold Yescas — one of Mandy Bujold’s 20 community leaders ready to step…
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Eugenia Phelan, Champion for Charity fighter, cherishes a life-long bond with boxing By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca BEAMSVILLE — At 4:30 a.m., the bedside alarm blares with the feral ferocity of a clout to the jaw. Two minutes later, a weary Eugenia Phelan rises. Music? You’ve got to be kidding. “Just a hardcore, in-your-face alarm to…
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