“One night, just before bed, I found a lump.”

So said Amy Semple, a local high school teacher and breast cancer survivor, when she visited Shoppers Drug Mart at High Street and Lansdowne in Peterborough this afternoon, along with representatives from the Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) Foundation.

They were there to thank Shoppers Drug Mart for supporting the PRHC Foundation’s $1.9 million campaign to acquire three new full-field digital mammography machines for the hospital’s Breast Assessment Centre.

Until Friday, October 6th, customers and employees at any one of Peterborough’s four local Shoppers Drug Mart locations will be given a chance to make a donation directly to the PRHC Foundation through Shoppers Drug Mart’s 2017 Growing Women’s Health campaign.

Donations can be made by visiting any one of the following Shoppers Drug Mart locations in Peterborough until October 6th: 1875 Lansdowne Street West, 741 Lansdowne Street West, 971 Chemong Road, 225 Charlotte Street, and 361 George Street. The donations will support the purchase of the new mammography machines.

“It took two weeks to obtain the formal diagnosis at PRHC’s Breast Assessment Centre,” Amy told staff at Shoppers Drug Mart. “I had breast cancer. I was only 32 years old.”

The youngest member of Peterborough’s Survivors Abreast Dragon Boat team, she now fundraises herself to ensure that other women also receive the same quality of care and support at PRHC that she did.

“This technology that you’re helping fund will help save lives,” Amy said. “Imagine what it could mean to the women in our community, maybe even someone in your family. Thank you.”

Pharmacist/owner Mohan Joshi thanked Amy for coming and sharing her story, and said that supporting initiatives like the PRHC Foundation’s mammography campaign is what Shoppers Drug Mart’s Growing Women’s Health campaign is all about.

“We’re committed to helping build a healthier community for us all,” Mohan said. “We hope that, together with the employees of Shoppers Drug Mart, our customers will join us in supporting this vital equipment for the thousands of women who have mammograms at Peterborough Regional Health Centre every year.”

The new full-field mammography machines will give PRHC’s radiologists the ability to look at the breast from many angles to confidently determine if anything looks suspicious. Not only will this reduce the need for callbacks, reducing anxiety in patients, but it will help radiologists detect tumours earlier and when they are smaller in size.

The national Shoppers Drug Mart Growing Women’s Health campaign supports local organizations that make a difference to women’s health in each store’s own community. Customers and employees can purchase a $1 leaf, $5 butterfly, $10 apple, or a $50 bird, which are then displayed in each store’s front window for the duration of the campaign. All proceeds go to women’s health initiatives across Canada,

For more information about PHRC Foundation and to find out how you can support the hospital, call 705-876-5000 or visit www.prhcfoundation.ca. For more information about Shoppers Drug Mart’s Growing Women’s Health campaign, visit www.shoppersloveyou.ca.

It turns out the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) rather than the federal government is leading the investigation into the sudden death of 12 Mallard ducks, which happened in the north end of Peterborough on Sunday, September 3rd.

Media spokesperson Jolanta Kowalski provided kawarthaNOW with an update in an email early this morning (September 16) confirming MNRF is investigating the incident.

On Wednesday, September 13th, Kowalski had advised kawarthaNOW that the federal government may be leading the investigation.

“We are waiting for an answer from Environment Canada Wildlife Division to determine if they are available to lead the investigation into this matter,” Kowalski wrote in an email.

Kowalski did not provide any additional information on September 16th on the reason for the change in the status of the investigation.

Mallard ducks are migratory birds protected in Canada under the Migratory Birds Convention Act. Environment and Climate Change Canada is responsible for administering the act on behalf of the federal government, which includes activities to verify compliance with the legislation and investigating alleged infractions.

On Sunday, September 3rd, residents of Tobin Court in the north end of Peterborough observed a group of 14 Mallard ducks leaving a local pond to eat grass which, according to residents, happens frequently. Minutes later, 12 of the ducks collapsed and died on residents’ lawns and driveways.

Two more ducks were found alive but unable to move, and residents took them to Shades of Hope Wildlife Rescue in Pefferlaw, where they were treated with subcutaneous fluids and appear to be recovering.

Both Shades of Hope Wildlife Rescue manager Cathy Stockman and local naturalist Drew Monkman suspect the ducks were exposed to some kind of poison such as a pesticide. Other people fear the ducks may have been intentionally poisoned, as some residents consider the ducks to be a nuisance.

It is possible the ducks died from ingesting pesticides or other human-made toxins, as there have been other confirmed cases of this. In July 2014, after 20 ducks in Tennessee experienced seizures and died, wildlilfe biologists confirmed they had ingested pesticide. In December 2014, 20 ducks died at Beacon Hill Park in Victoria in British Columbia after being exposed to an unidentified toxin.

However, in addition to human-made poisons, natural toxins can cause sudden death in waterfowl, the most common being avian cholera and avian botulism.

Avian cholera is a highly infectious disease caused by the Pasteurella multocida bacterium that can kill birds within six hours — birds have been known to literally drop dead while flying. Die-offs involving more than 1,000 birds in a single day have been reported. The disease is transmitted by bird-to-bird contact or by ingesting contaminated food or water. Birds infected by avian cholera may appear lethargic, experience convulsions, swim in circles, or throw their heads back between their wings.

Avian botulism results when birds ingest a toxin produced by the Clostridium botulinum bacterium and can cause death within 24 hours. The toxin affects the nervous system and paralyzes voluntary muscles. Birds lose the use of their wings first, then their legs, and finally their neck muscles. Listlessness, sagging head, and drooping wings are common symptoms. Clostridium botulinum can exist for many years in wetlands and thrives during the hot summer months.

Other toxins affecting ducks that don’t cause sudden death are duck plague (a contagious disease cause by a herpes virus) and lead poisoning (which usually occurs after waterfowl ingest spent lead shot pellets).

Ducks have also been known to die from malnutrition and starvation. In December 2015, around 20 ducks died in a city park in Windsor. An investigation determined the ducks died because they were feeding on garbage and junk food left by people, which did not provide them with the nutrients they needed.

Peterborough Pride Week — the annual celebration of human rights, inclusiveness, and diversity regardless of gender identity or sexuality — returns from September 15th to 24th, with a series of community-run events including an evening of cabaret entertainment featuring award-winning queer comic Elvira Kurt on Saturday, September 23rd following the Pride parade and Pride in the Park celebration.

The theme of 2017 Pride Week is “Out for Good”, speaking both to the rights of people to freely express their self-identity throughout their lives without facing discrimination, and the vital role people who identify as LGBTTQI2S (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transsexual, Queer, Intersex, and Two-Spirit) play in supporting the community.

Peterborough Pride Week kicks off on Friday, September 15th with a flag-raising ceremony on the south lawn of Peterborough City Hall at 12 p.m. — including a flag to celebrate advances in transgender rights this year. Pride-related events continue on Friday evening and every day throughout the following week, including live music, workshops, discussions, religious services, film and literary events, games, and more.

The week culminates with the Pride Parade on Saturday, September 23rd from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. (departing from City Hall) followed by “Pride in the Park”, a family-friendly celebration that runs until 6 p.m. in Millennium Park.

There are far too many individual events to list here, but you can check out our Peterborough Pride 2017 events column or browse the events calendar at peterboroughpride.ca.

Some of the events are hosted by the Peterborough Pride organization, some events are financially supported by Peterborough Pride, and other events are independently hosted by other local organizations and groups. Regardless of your interest, there’s something for everyone.

One event of special note is the “Act On It!” Pride Party on Saturday, September 23rd at 8 p.m. at Catalina’s (131 Hunter St., Peterborough).

Presented by Mysterious Entity and supported by Peterborough Pride, it’s an evening of cabaret and entertainment that kicks off with “Say Yes to My Dress!”, curated and hosted by David Bateman, followed by “Homosexual Panic” by comic and queer activist Elvira Kurt from 9:30 to 10:30 p.m.

Kurt is a multi-award winning comedian (including a Canadian Comedy Award for Funniest Female Comedian) and she’s appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, George Stromboulopoulos Tonight, CBC’s The Debaters and This Hour has 22 Minutes, and many more. She is no stranger to Peterborough, having brought her acclaimed Fringe Festival show Parallel Play to The Theatre on King in Peterborough in 2014 (directed by Peterborough’s Linda Kash).

“Homeoexual Panic” is based on Kurt’s sold-out stand-up show of the same name, originally presented at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in Toronto earlier this summer as part of Queer Pride 2017.

“If you know me, you’ve never seen me like this and, if you don’t know me, you’re going to get a master class in stand-up comedy,” Kurt says in an interview with Antoine Elhashem of theBUZZ.

“As someone who lives in constant anxiety (the name of the show is not a coincidence) and has missed out on a lot of amazing things in my life because of that anxiety, I don’t want to make people feel bad if they miss it,” she says.

“If you do come, you’ll be glad you did because laughs will be had and they will be those deep tissue cleansing kind of laughs that make you feel less alone in your own homosexual panic, whatever that may be.”

VIDEO: The Deviants and The Odd Man Out

Following Kurt’s show, Deviants and the Odd Man Out will perform at 10:30 p.m. All members of this newly formed punk band from Port Hope are transgender.

A DJ-fuelled dance will then take place at 11 p.m. to closing, and Mysterious Entity’s own artistic director and skilled bartender Em Glasspool will be serving specialty cocktails all evening long.

Tickets for the full evening with all performances are $15, or pay what you can for the band and the dance. For advance tickets, contact Mysterious Entity at m.entity@gmail.com or 705-933-4510.