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Her passion to fight ALS is no act
Copyright 2002 Sun Media Corporation The Edmonton Sun October 19, 2002 Saturday, Final Edition
SECTION: Lifestyle; Pg. 38 LENGTH: 566 words BYLINE: SHELLY DECKER, EDMONTON SUN
Canadian actress Wendy Crewson's portrayal of ALS sufferer Sue Rodriguez did more than earn her a Gemini Award
(the Canadian equivlent of an Emmy award), it led her to raise awareness about the disease.
From her role as patron of the ALS Society of Alberta to faithfully participating in Calgary's annual fund-raiser, Betty's
Run, Crewson's efforts have earned her another Gemini.
Crewson (The Santa Clause, Air Force One) was ecstatic to learn she's receiving the Gemini Humanitarian Award for her volunteer
work to aid those with devastating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). It includes a $10,000 charitable donation.
"I was completely shocked," said Crewson, who moved to Toronto last year with her family after a decade in San Francisco.
"I'm thrilled for the ALS Society because it means a lot of great exposure for them. And of course the $10,000 cash donation,
it's a big boost for ALS Alberta."
Crewson wanted to help those with the disease after her role as Rodriguez, a B.C. mother who fought for physician-assisted
suicide as she lost her battle with the debilitating illness.
"It was a huge emotional impact. It's surprising in the business how few roles there are in your life that are as life-changing
as Sue Rodriguez was," said Crewson, who receives her honour at the awards ceremony celebrating the best in Canadian television
Nov. 4.
"I felt a tremendous need afterward to stay involved with the society and people going through what she went through."
After the TV movie, The Sue Rodriguez Story, aired in 1998, Crewson agreed to help Alberta's ALS society. She opened Edmonton's
society doors three years ago and also does public relations work for the national body.
"I'm a fixture now. Absolutely, I'll stay involved," said Crewson, who is heading to Los Angeles next week to film The Clearing
with Robert Redford and Helen Mirren.
The rapidly progressive neuromuscular disease, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease after it killed the famed baseball player
in 1941, wields a punishing assault on the body. Deterioration of nerve cells that control muscles leads to total paralysis.
The relentless erosion of the body is especially cruel since the mind is completely unaffected and thus the person is very
much aware of the deterioration.
"Two to three Canadians die every day from ALS. It's a terrible disease," said Crewson, who will appear on the big screen
next month alongside Tim Allen in The Santa Clause 2.
According to the ALS Society of Canada, the disease can strike anyone, most commonly surfacing between 55 and 65 years of
age.
Statistics Canada figures show that between 1994 and 1996, twice as many people died of ALS than cystic fibrosis and multiple
sclerosis combined.
Crewson has formed friendships over the years with ALS sufferers and their families. With all too rare exception Crewson knows
that her friendships will be too brief with those fighting the devastating disease.
Within five years of diagnosis, 90% of those with ALS are dead. In a few cases the disease seems to plateau, such as famed
physicist Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed with the illness about 38 years ago.
"It's very emotional. You get involved with them and their families," said Crewson, who is in her 40s. "It is an inevitable
thing (death). This is always in your mind when you're meeting these people and getting to know them, that this is the almost
inevitable end of it."
Posted by rideforlife at October 21, 2002 10:42 AM
Crewson puts heart, star power into ALS society
Commits herself to charity work in between movie roles
January 16, 2003 Bob Blakey Calgary Herald
Hollywood actors often do research when tackling a complex role, but Wendy Crewson has taken her interest in
a fatal disease far beyond a movie job.
This is Crewson's fifth year as a volunteer ambassador for the ALS Society of Alberta. The Calgary-based charity helps sufferers
and families hit by fatal amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
Between co-starring in such hit movies as The Santa Clause and its recent sequel with Tim Allen, and Air Force One with Harrison
Ford, Crewson has attended the Betty's Run fundraiser each June in this city.
She was in town this week, mainly to promote her upcoming CBC Television movie-The Many Trials of One Jane Doe (Jan. 20, 8
p.m. on Ch. 6/9, Ch. 50) -- but she also met with ALS Society executive director Mary Hatcher to discuss videotaping a series
of TV public service announcements for the run.
Last October, Crewson won a Gemini Humanitarian Award for her national work to increase public awareness of the disease. It
came with a $10,000 prize, which the actor gave to the ALS Society.
She said she's drawn to the cause because families of ALS sufferers can use the help.
"When this disease strikes, families are overwhelmed with the progression of the disease," Crewson, 46, said.
"It happens so hard and fast and it's so devastating to all these families. They don't have the time to get out, lobby and
look for research funds and raise public awareness.
"So, any sort of outside help they can get, they're enormously grateful."
Crewson, born in Hamilton, Ont., recently moved from San Francisco to Toronto with husband Michael Murphy and their two children.
Hatcher praises Crewson's commitment and sensitivity in her volunteer work.
"Wendy connects on a really personal level with people with ALS in their families," the society director said. "She goes to
their homes, and if it's a child involved in the family, she'll go to that child's school and talk to the class.
"She makes herself available in a very personal way."
Crewson also knows how to turn "star power" into a positive force for the cause when doing media interviews, Hatcher said.
"She'll smile for the cameras, then turn around and say, 'But let me introduce you to so-and-so,' or 'Let me tell you so-and-so's
story.'
"It's never about Wendy."
Crewson-known also for such Canadian movies as Getting Married in Buffalo Jump, Better Than Chocolate and the recent Suddenly
Naked-was cast in the starring role of At the End of the Day: The Sue Rodriguez Story, in 1998.
She won a Gemini Award for her moving portrayal of the B.C. woman who waged a highly public battle for the legal right to
have an assisted suicide.
That prompted local ALS Society officials to call the actor and invite her to get involved, which was just what Crewson had
been hoping for.
"I thought at the time the movie came out, if I was working with ALS victims, I'd call me and ask me to help."
Crewson said of her humanitarian award, "It was lovely. It was stunning and amazing. It was completely unexpected."
During the nomination process, Hatcher phoned Crewson to say she was submitting the actor's name.
"I said, 'You can't, Mary. It's not for people like me. It's for people on boards of directors, people with bigger names who
do more things. It isn't going to happen.
"Now she says, 'Ha Ha. I told you so.'"
Putting her star-power to work
Award-winning actress Wendy Crewson, Arts'78, received the Gemini Humanitarian Award at the 17th annual Gemini
Awards, which were telecast live on Nov. 4, 2002. The award, which honours contributions and commitments to community and
public service by members of the Canadian television industry, recognized Wendy's volunteer role with the ALS Society of Alberta.
This wasn't Wendy's first Gemini award. She won her first in 1998 for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Guest Role--Dramatic
Series" and her second in 1999 for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series".
The latter was for her portrayal of ALS-victim Sue Rodriguez in the film At the End of the Day: The Sue Rodriguez Story. That
role led her to extensive promotion and volunteer work for the ALS Society of Alberta. In 1998 she starred in a series of
public service announcements promoting Betty's Run, the Alberta Society's largest fundraiser. Wendy continues to host the
Calgary event, and while she is there, she visits with the media, schoolchildren, and with those with the degenerative neuromuscular
disease, which is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease (after the NY Yankees baseball star who died of the disease in 1941).
Says Mary Hatcher, Executive Director of the ALS Society of Alberta, "It is her human side that connects with those affected
by ALS. Having played someone with ALS, [Wendy] is very sensitive to what they are dealing with and humbled by their courage,
determination and how they embrace life. Then she turns on her star power for us, taking the ALS story to a much wider public.
Her impact has been enormous."
Upon accepting the award, the Hamilton, ON-native mused that she was "not deserving of it, " but said that "in whatever small
way I can help, it is my privilege and it is my honour to accept this award on behalf of the real humanitarians who truly
do work tirelessly to ease the pain of this illness." The award was accompanied by a $10,000 cash donation, which Wendy directed
to the ALS Society of Alberta.
After graduating from Queen's with a degree in drama, Wendy continued her studies in England at the Webber Douglass Academy
of Dramatic Arts in London, and at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, MA. If you missed the Geminis, you will have
many more chances to catch Wendy in action in the near future. She has a leading role in the recenty released film Perfect
Pie (which is based on a play by Judith Thompson, Arts'77), she has reprised an earlier role in The Santa Clause 2 opposite
Tim Allen, and is currently filming The Clearing opposite Robert Redford and Helen Mirren. Past roles found her playing opposite
such Hollywood big guns as Sophia Loren (Between Strangers), Sidney Poitier (The Last Brickmaker in America ), Arnold Schwarzenegger
(On The Sixth Day), Robin Williams (Bicentennial Man ), Harrison Ford (What Lies Beneath, Air Force One), Michelle Pfeiffer
(What Lies Beneath, To Gillian On Her 37th Birthday), and William Hurt (The Doctor). Wendy also recently co-produced a series
for Lifetime/CTV called Criminal Instinct: The Joanne Kilbourne Mysteries, which earned her another nomination for Best Actress
at this year's Geminis.
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