On April 25, Keyna Bracken, associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University, was mere hours away from watching the town of Patan shrink into a dot from her airplane window when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked Nepal.
Keyna recalls the airport lounge moments before the ground started to move. “I heard a penetrating silence. You know that there is something wrong because it’s just too still.”
The quiet of the airport waiting room was broken up by what Keyna likens to the sound of a train. Having travelled to Haiti post-earthquake with St. Joseph’s relief group and experiencing a number of aftershocks, Keyna recognized the sound for what it was–the oncoming earthquake.
“The ground began to move, and not a gentle rocking either, but a really nasty movement–it’s more of a high impact wave. You can’t really go anywhere… because you get tossed around.”
Keyna took shelter under a table and waited it out before she was able to run past a now deserted security gate. She had made it onto the runway with the others, but there was no direction amongst the crowd and she was unable to speak Nepalese, forcing her to do nothing but wait.
“You could see the dust in the air from Kapmandu, and knowing what those buildings were like, I figured that most of them had probably collapsed. When you walk along [the Nepalese streets], only for a couple of hours, you realize why–many of the buildings are not concrete and don’t have foundations.”
With the help of an expatriate Canadian who spoke both English and Nepalese, Keyna made it to the guesthouse in which he had been staying. “That night was probably the most terrifying night that I had ever been through. I felt very alone even though there were [many] stranded people [in] this guesthouse that a Nepalese gentleman had opened up for everybody. Several times there were pretty significant aftershocks… You’re on a perpetual adrenaline hit for 36 hours.”
When light finally broke in the sky and airplane engines roared to life, Keyna knew that she had to get on a plane and get out that day. The airport was a different kind of terror; she had to push her way through the frantic crowd all coveting a seat on a plane out of the rumbling country.
“I was just so fortunate. I could have been in one of those temples. It could have been the day before when I was visiting tourist sites. I was the one that had a flight, and [others had] no way of getting a ticket unless you had outside help.”
After three hours, Keyna was able to break through the crowd and make it onto an airplane heading to Bangkok.
“When the plane finally started to lift off you couldn’t actually see any of the collapse because of the dust. Usually Kapmandu is dusty because it gets trapped in the valley, but the dust after was just incredible. You couldn’t see anything.”
Keyna, who is planning her imminent sabbatical year, had been in Kapmandu to scope out possibilities for collaboration with the Patan Academy of Health Sciences. The Academy is a Medical School and Hospital in the old part of Patan. It is partially founded by the Nick Simon Institute, an organization aimed at training all-encompassing physicians for remote areas. Her next destination was Banda Aceh, an area hit by the 2004 tsunami that ravaged the Indonesian landscape.
“I carried on with my plans… I think that was a good thing, because the resiliency of the Indonesian people after such a horrible event highlights what you can hope to aspire. It was interesting going from an area that had a fresh tragedy to an area that had a ten year old tragedy.”
Keyna has now been reunited with her family in Canada, but her time in Nepal remains fresh. She still wakes up at night thinking that the ground is shaking. During the day, she counts her luck in sturdy buildings, in foundation, in roads and in a still ground.
It was a storybook tale for what could have been a heavy night. Siobhan Manning dropped a season-high 15 points during a breast cancer awareness event, just months after her mother was diagnosed with that very disease.
The story begins back in November. Bernadette Manning, mother of McMaster women’s basketball guard Siobhan, was diagnosed with breast cancer. The news shook Manning, but she was not alone.
The women’s basketball team is no stranger to breast cancer. Head coach Theresa Burns was diagnosed with the disease and beat it – she’s been cancer-free for nine years. Manning had support from her coach and teammates during the tough time and continued to play.
Then came the Think Pink game against Waterloo. The CIS launched a breast cancer awareness campaign in 2007, pairing with the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Nearly all CIS basketball teams host the event. Some universities wear pink jerseys, while others teams outfit themselves with pink accents like wristbands, socks and shoelaces.
During warm-ups for Mac’s Think Pink event, Marauder players wore pink t-shirts with the Marauder logo on the front and text on the back: “I’m playing for _______.” Mac wrote that they were playing for Mama Manning, a touching moment for a family that has dealt with a tumultuous few months. And although it was just a regular season match-up, the pre-game feel was not the same.
“The mindset was different. It was more than a game for our team. In past years, it’s been more than a game, but this year especially, it was really close to home,” said Manning. “I was ready to play for what the game represented.”
Forwards Clare Kenney and Linnaea Harper were sidelined with injuries, opening a couple spots in the starting line-up. Siobhan Manning got her first start of the season and the second of her career.
Manning took the opportunity and made the most of it. She opened the game with a three, confidently pulling the trigger and splashing a shot from the right wing.
“One of my teammates, ironically enough, came up to me and said ‘let the game come to you,’” said Manning. And she did just that.
Playing with a ton of confidence, Manning led the team in minutes played (35) and finished third in scoring. Mac beat Waterloo, 81-67. Coming into the game, the Health Sciences student was averaging 13.5 minutes per contest and 3.2 points per game. To the casual observer, it was a surprise. The coaching staff was not taken aback by the performance.
“Sho has had some good games for us this year. She’s been steady, but that was one of the best games I’ve seen her play,” said Burns.
“We knew she was capable with that. She put a lot of work in over the summer … she had definitely added to her game. It was a matter of time for her to put it all together and she did it on Saturday.”
Now, Manning’s mother has already completed one surgery, but radiation therapy awaits. Siobhan has learned how to cope with the situation, but she admits that she struggled at the beginning.
“The first game where I saw my mom come in, I looked into the crowd and I just started tearing up,” said Manning. “But as time has gone on, not that it’s become normal, I’ve reflected and learned how to deal with. It’s just become the way it is and we’re going to get through it together.”
Following the game, Manning says her mother gave her a hug and was “speechless.”
The Think Pink game and Manning’s stand-out performance provided the family and team with a feel-good moment during one of the more difficult times the group will face. You can’t find that in a box score.
