Extraordinarily Special

Wow. What a show today. The first hour was so incredibly compelling. I was awed by Janice Landry's story about her dad rescuing the baby from the burning house last year and to hear the conclusion to the story today was so gratifying, it brought tears to all of our eyes in the studio!

If you missed it, what Janice's dad did was to save the life of a weeks old baby by performing a miraculous rescue without the help of even a ladder!! The boy's mom, Kim, called the show and she was in tears too, remembering the day she was screaming on her front lawn as her baby was upstairs and no one could help him. She said everyone tried to run up the stairs to get the baby, but the smoke was too thick. It was devestating listening to this mother reveal how she felt when she knew there was a chance her son might die. It was equally as compelling when she told us how she felt when she saw her son and realized he was alive! As Yvonne mentioned, it's pretty obvious Nick was meant to live. A little tiny baby, with small lungs survived a massive house fire and his mom told us he was not injured, he just had some soot in his nose! Lieutenant Landry received a medal of honour from the Governor-General of Canada for his actions. It was so great to hear that because of Janice's plea last year, she found Kim, Nick and the rest of the family and was able to make that connection. Nick's two aunts called too to speak with Janice and Yvonne spoke with Nick's wife after the news. Janice's dad sounded like a wonderful man, who even gave Kim an envelope with a little bit of money afterward and told her to go buy him a lollipop. Nick is now married with a family because of what Janice's dad did. I can't tell you how incredible it was to hear a happy ending on the Hotline. It was also neat to hear the family refer to him as Fireman Landry. It's kind of old school, like when we used to have heroes and people had respect for people in uniform. Landry was, indeed, a hero.

Bill Jessome was in for the first hour too and it was a pleasure to meet him! As Yvonne mentioned, Bill is revered in Cape Breton and after retiring from what was then ATV 8 years ago, started devoting his time to writing. He's written several books including "Maritime Mysteries". If you have a ghost story you want to share you can e-mail him at: maritime.mysteries@gmail.com. He told a compelling story too about his father getting arrested and being hauled off to jail when he was 7 years old. He was thrown in jail for not paying his grocery bill during the depression. As you can imagine, it scarred Bill and he told us how he planned to burn down the grocery store. He had the kerosene and matches and was about to leave the house when his mother asked him where he was going. Instead of screaming at him, she calmly pointed out the consequences of his would-be actions, as there were 3 families living upstairs from the store. As Yvonne pointed out, it was a great lesson and something it seems like kids don't get anymore - understanding the consequences of actions.

I want to thank Janice and Bill for sharing some amazing stories today, ones which really made me think and feel, aka - cry!

We heard another compelling story in the second hour with caller Kim. She told us she was fighting with Workers Compensation after being injured by a special needs student in the classroom as she worked as an E.T.A. She says she's going to lose her house and she's pretty much broke because of this fight. She told us her options are to sue the board, etc. Yvonne says she's going to be delving into this subject a little deeper this week and I'm sure it's something Rick will be bringing up as well. Kim originally called to lament the fact Education Minister Karen Casey cancelled on us for tomorrow. Yvonne is trying to book the Minister with Rick, and that will be the test to see if cabinet ministers have been banned from doing our show along with the Premier.

Tomorrow though - a special treat for those who have been missing the sports hour on Fridays. Joey Di Penta will be in with Yvonne during the first hour! Feel free to call and congratulate him on his win or ask him anything!

It's kind of grey outside right now - let's hope that sun breaks through later on!

Have an excellent day...and I'll be speaking to you tomorrow!

Cheers,

Amber