A Cranbrook breast cancer survivor is crying foul after an experience at Spokane airport that has upset her deeply.
Still undergoing chemotherapy, Lynn Haskin is recovering from her second battle with breast cancer, and she had a second mastectomy in November 2011. She is set to have breast reconstruction surgery next month
Earlier in January, Lynn and her husband were travelling to Phoenix for a conference from Spokane, Washington.
Lynn was braced to go through airport security, she says.
“They have full body scanners. I had heard about these scanners and how if you have a ‘void’ you may have to be patted down. So I wore a shirt with no bra so they could see that I didn’t have anything there,” Lynn says.
However, after Lynn went through the scanner, a female Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer approached and said Lynn would have to submit to a pat-down.
“I didn’t want to be patted down, that’s why I specifically didn’t wear a bra,” Lynn says.
“I explained to her that I have had a mastectomy and there is nothing there. She said, ‘Well, it’s procedure. I have to pat you down.’ At this point in time, I really have no choice. I’m going somewhere, I have to be patted down obviously.”
“So that has caused me a lot of sleepless nights over the past few years. If the grant didn’t come through, our Rotary Club would be on the hook for it.”
The fireworks alone, Vanden Broek explained, cost $8,000 last year.
“It’s just that funding hanging out there has been a nagging issue,” he said.
“We commit to musicians and to a stage and tent rentals – all this stuff has to be lined up ahead of time.”
Vanden Broek said after hearing that Sunrise Rotary was bowing out, the City’s Leisure Services department offered to underwrite the outstanding grants. But still, Rotary’s time was up.
“Unfortunately, we’ve moved on and we’ve got a couple of other projects that we are looking at,” said Vanden Broek.
If you represent a community group interested in taking over the Canada Day organization, please contact Leisure Services at 250-489-0220.