Free Republic

B.C.-born former Paralympian Arley McNeney died suddenly last week, her family revealed Tuesday. She’s being remembered as a passionate advocate for social justice, equality, accessibility and inclusion—as well as a devoted mother to her daughter Dottie. “I can’t put words to the love Arley has for Dot,” Denver McNeney wrote in a tweet announcing his sister’s death. Born in New Westminster, McNeney, who also went by Arley Cruthers, played for Canada’s national wheelchair basketball team from 2001 to 2007—winning two World Championships and a bronze medal at the 2004 Paralympics. She later went on to win two U.S. national championships...

Canada approved medically-assisted suicide in 2016 ... Canada's Veterans Affairs office offered to assist a Paralympian and veteran to commit suicide when she sought to have a wheelchair lift installed in her home ... Christine Gauthier, a 52-year-old retired corporal who competed in the 2016 Paralympics at Rio De Janeiro, testified to lawmakers that a VA official had offered — in writing — to provide her with a medically-assisted suicide kit. The case officer remains unnamed but reportedly made similar offers to at least three other veterans ... Canada first approved medically-assisted suicide in 2016, and the parameters around allowing...

A disabled veteran in Canada has slammed her government for offering to euthanize her when she grew frustrated at delays in having a wheelchair lift installed in her home. Retired Army Corporal Christine Gauthier, a former Paralympian, testified in Parliament on Thursday that a Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) caseworker made the assisted suicide offer. After years of frustrating delays in getting the home lift, Gauthier says the caseworker told her: 'Madam, if you are really so desperate, we can give you medical assistance in dying now.' The worker who made the offer hasn't been named, but they are feared to...

Madsen, 60, was declared dead at 11 p.m. PST on Monday, June 22, when the US Coast Guard discovered her body several hours after she last made contact with anybody, according to a letter posted to RowOfLife.org, a website set up to document the journey, and signed by Madsen’s wife, Debra Madsen, and filmmaker Soraya Simi. A paraplegic, Angela Madsen was a six-time Guinness World Record holder who was in the midst of attempting her next feat: to become the first paraplegic and oldest woman to row from California to Hawaii alone. Madsen carried all of her own food and...