Alex Nilsson
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Home Champions of Change - Canada's Champions of Change from the CBC... Who are Canada's top volunteers— you decide! Tell us about volunteers from your community and how they are making a difference. More than $100 000 in donations will go to the winners' charities from Manulife Financial. Click here to see Alex Nilsson's nomination page! Alex
receiving BC Branch Canadian Institute Public Health Inspectors Honorary
Background: On December 2009 Alex Nilsson was awarded the Order of Canada by Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada for his outstanding commitment as a volunteer in Creston BC. In1999, after 30 years as a Public Health Inspector, Alex retired from his position with the East Kootenay Health Unit. He was and is highly respected by his colleagues and superiors. He is remembered for doing his job "beyond the call of duty", his friendly nature, thorough explanations and interest to help out with a shovel in hand. Alex was and still is the ultimate volunteer in his community and region having chaired or participated on seventeen community boards and councils from the Hospital Board to soccer club. He was the founder of four recreational clubs from swimming to skiing, and participated with his family in many of these and other sports. In the summer of 2005 he completed his most outstanding achievement by rollerskiing 6,100 KM across Canada for the Canadian Diabetes Association. He still volunteers with several community groups. He is a recipient of the Queens' Jubilee Award, was awarded Citizen of the Year in 2004, Freeman of the town in 2005, presented with the Volunteer Appreciation Award and had the soccer field named after him. The Award: Volunteers
are essential to the ongoing success of the BC Branch of the Canadian
Institute of Public Health Inspectors. The Alex Nilsson Award was created
to commend one hard-working volunteer who has given considerable time,
skill and effort to the BC Branch, CIPHI, and/or his or her community
and has had a positive impact in British Columbia and/or Canada. CSA RECEIVES HIGHEST CIVILIAN HONOUR! At a recent investiture in Ottawa, ALEX NILSSON, CSA, was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada by the Governor General of Canada, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaelle Jean. Congratulations, Alex! Many in the CSA family know Alex as a Faculty member through his inspirational presentations on “Nutrition and Fitness.” A life-long sports and fitness ‘guru’, Alex was deservedly honoured for his extensive contributions in sports and community development activities, many of which contribute directly to quality of life for seniors in his home community of Creston, B.C. More information about his background and many accomplishments will be featured in a forthcoming edition of Maturity Matters newsletter. To access some photos of Alex and his lovely wife, Nicole, please follow the link below...as well as a link to all recipients receiving the Order of Canada on April 7, 2010. http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2538651 http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/04/07/13502656.html (Alex is #23 on the photo list). We are privileged to know Alex as a colleague, fellow CSA and friend. Alex Nilsson lighting
the PDF file - photo in the Daily Townsmen - picture of Alex on page 7 The Torch Ceremony
Click
here to read the article and listen to Alex and Nicole being
New Articles! An article just posted on the website of the Canadian Diabetes Association regarding the Order of Canada Induction: Click here to read the article now. Just had a great article posted in the Creston Valley Advance regarding Alex's induction to the Order of Canada. This is a great honor, comparable to being knighted in England! Click here to read the article now. Also, check out the most recent issue of the BigFoot running club newsletter (quick article about the induction in there, too - it's a PDF file, just fyi). Click here to read the article now. New interviews! Click here to read the article and listen to Alex and Nicole being interviewed on the Internet Radio Show, "Growing Bolder!"
Also,
check out the this interview with Stephen DeWitt - click
here to go to the Podcast page - it's the Ultra Elite High Endurance Enjoy! New collection of newspaper articles about the journey across Canada! Please note, some are upsidown so you'll need to rotate your view in Adobe Acrobat Reader (there is a button on the top-right to do that).
First off, we would just like to thank everybody for their support in the last few months! I'll start by saying that he doing very well and is on the road to recovery... Because on January 14th, 2007, something NOBODY ever thought could happen DID happen. Alex was on the verge of completing his EIGHTH marathon in EIGHT months... it was the final mile of the Phoenix Marathon. But in that last mile of the Phoenix Marathon, he suffered a cardiac embolism (a.k.a. a heart attack), and collapsed on the road. Thanks to EXTREMELY quick action on the part of the Tempe Fire Department ambulance team (who had noticed that he was having trouble running and were actually following him in their ambulance), they were able to resuscitate him on the spot. He was transported to St. Luke's hospital then airlifted to St. Joseph's hospital where he was successfully treated. The embolism itself was not actually caused by heart disease, as I'm sure you're wondering! The underlying cause was a viral infection that cause a rupture in a cardiac artery wall due to the stress of the running (he was on Mile 25!). That rupture caused a clot to form, which led to the heart attack. But the bottom line is, thanks to the wonderful efforts of all involved (ambulance team, cardiac doctors, nurses and, of course, my mother Nicole), he is doing great and already getting back into the swing of things (no marathons for awhile, though!). If you'd like to send your well wishes, please free to use the Contact form! I'll make sure every message gets through to him! Below is a picture taken just 2 weeks after the "event" - these are the paramedics that saved his life! It's rare when they get to meet their success stories and they were all thrilled that everything turned out so well. We're all very grateful, too! Nick Nilsson
On a Lighter Note... After completing the ski across Canada, Alex was interviewed by Carolyn Waldo of CTV News, which is a national television station in Canada. This segment aired in the Ottawa area of Canada. This is a 5.7 MB file, just so you know - you can click the link to view it streaming onto your computer or right-click on the link and choose "save target as" to download it to your computer for easier viewing if you have a slower connection.
Click here to read an article on Alex's trek, appearing in BetterU News (my own fitness newsletter) as well as many online ski sites, diabetes sites and health and fitness sites. Letter to Peter McDougall regarding Team Diabetes: Thanks for initiating this team spirit, Peter. Great to receive all these intro e-mails! My husband Alex will be the marathon runner in NYC - he has you all beat age-wise, he is a fit 71yr.old Can/Swede. This will be his seventh marathon - no, more than that as he plans to run 1 marathon per month this year starting end of May in Coeur D'Alene Idaho. Alex has been involved in every sport (excluding curling which he doesn't think is a sport!! -just kidding if we have serious curlers out there). A few outrageous sports events he has done -the LATEST was Rollerski Across Canada - anyone see him on the trans Canada? Started in Victoria on June 24/05 & finished October 4/05 in St. Johns NFLD. Our cause was "Diabetes PREVENTION de la Diabete". His dear wife, ME, was support team/manager/chief cook/ RV driver - he only had to ROLLERSKI. We have completed our fundraising! Our son Nick maintained the website from Chicago. It is still up if you wish to find out a bit more about this super senior Alex Nilsson. website www.skiacrosscanada.com. We live in a beautiful little town called Creston in BC, south-east corner of BC. Alex is a retired Environmental Health Officer, & I am semi-retired RN (much younger than him!) Reason we selected Diabetes as our cause: I was Diabetes Nurse Educator, wanted to bring awareness of diabetes Type 2 WAVE that will happen, is happening! It's great that you are all working towards accomplishing NYC marathon - need to train hard whether your first or more marathon, really admire all of you! I look forward to meeting THE TEAM! Nicole on behalf of Alex.
About the Journey The country of Canada is approximately 7,500 km from coast to coast (in a straight line). Starting June 25th, 2005, Alex Nilsson of Creston, B.C., Canada, will be beginning a cross-country odyssey to roller ski across the entire country of Canada from west coast to east coast. Starting in Victoria, British Columbia, Alex is planning to complete the entire trek across the country in approximately 8 weeks. The purpose of this journey is not only one of personal fulfillment but to help raise awareness for Diabetes Education. Diabetes is a serious disease which affects millions of people on a daily and ongoing basis. Please have a look around this site to learn more about not only the journey itself but how Diabetes can be prevented and treated. You're also welcome to contact us to send your best wishes to Alex as he completes his trek across Canada! Be sure to check into this site regularly to view Alex's progress across the country! We'll be updating his location on a regular basis. We also have a sign-up form (on the left side of every page) for email updates on how Alex is doing with the trek. We've also added a Picture Gallery so that you can see photos taken along the way! We will soon be adding a section on articles written on Alex's trek as newspapers along the way send them to us.
Alex's wife, Nicole Nilsson (who has the patience of a saint), will be driving the support vehicle (a motorhome) for the duration of the journey, at times following Alex and at times driving ahead and parking, going back to meet him on a bike and ride along with him. Walkie talkies will allow them to be in constant communication. Alex is planning on covering about 100 km (60 miles) per day, depending on weather and traffic conditions, starting in early in the morning and roller skiing until about noon, to avoid the heat of the afternoon. He will be travelling primarily on lesser-travelled roads and skirting major cities to avoid heavier traffic. The most challenging section of the country will be the mountainous regions of British Columbia. Alex will roller skiing up and down 7 mountain passes as he rolls across the province. In the prairies, he will be on mostly flat country but with heavy winds possible. In Ontario and Quebec, the summer heat and humidity will play a large factor. But Alex is determined to overcome all of this and make a successful trip across the country! Be sure to stay tuned! Letters From Well-Wishers: So wonderful to hear from you!!! We want to interview Alex for our Senior Spirit Newsletter - please let us know when it would be a good time for him and we can arrange for Sandy to conduct the interview. We are so proud of our Alex!! Send him our best wishes!! Rhonda & Herb Latrielle, Tundra & Malcolm Rhonda is President of the Canadian Academy of Senior Advisors of which both Alex and Nicole are members.
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