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Maple Ridge teen a child amputee role model

Julia Chiasson will be a junior counsellor and role model at The War Amps 2019 B.C. Child Amputee seminar in Richmond
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Julia Chiasson, 18, has been invited to be a junior counsellor and role model at The War Amps 2019 BC Child Amputee seminar in Richmond. (Contributed)

A Maple Ridge teen has been invited to be a junior counsellor and role model at the War Amps 2019 B.C. Child Amputee seminar in Richmond.

Julia Chiasson, 18, was born a partial left-hand amputee and usually attends the War Amps seminars to see the latest developments in artificial limbs and attend informative sessions dealing with amputation.

This year, she will be at the spring event as a junior counsellor, offering advice to younger ‘Champs’ and answering questions.

The seminar theme is “Just the Way I Am” and Chiasson will be encouraging others to embrace their amputation and overcome hurdles on the road to independence.

What Chiasson loves best about the seminars is that she learns about different ways other amputees cope with their limitations.

“They show everyone how they put their hair in a ponytail. And it’s just really cool to see the way that different people do things,” she said.

Chiasson wants to help others be more confident in themselves. She wants them to be proud of themselves for who they are and know that they can do anything they want to if they put their mind to it.

“They can’t change their amputation. They can just be proud of who they are,” she said.

The seminar is March 15-17.

The War Amps Child amputee program offers comprehensive services to Canadian child amputees and their families also provides financial assistance towards the cost of everyday artificial limbs and recreational devices for fitness, sports and music.

The War Amps is a registered charitable organization funded by donations to the Key Tag service.

• For more information, go to waramps.ca.



Colleen Flanagan

About the Author: Colleen Flanagan

I got my start with Black Press Media in 2003 as a photojournalist.
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