Many of our print stories at each grade level are accompanied with a video featuring the same Hidden Hero. A sample featuring Kathaleen Thompson follows.
The story about Ralph cook Wilson is one of the student-written stories in the Our Students’ Hidden Heroes book, a collection of stories and drawings produced by students from Grades 1 to 8. Each story is followed by at least two critical thinking questions.
Thanks to Shaw Communications for their ongoing support!
Kathaleen Thompson
When she was nine months old, Kathaleen Thompson was severely burned in a house fire. In her words her cheeks were severely scarred and she had a “witch's nose” that was horribly crooked and she had no neck. Most of her fingers were also burned so badly only stumps remained.
For the next 18 years, Kathaleen spent six months a year at the Shriner's Burn Hospital in Montreal, alternating three months in hospital and three months at home. For eight years after that her hospital visits were limited to three months a year. In total she had ninety-six separate surgeries but none of them could be done on her face until she was eighteen and her skull had fully grown.
Can you imagine living through your teens with such a badly scarred face and maintaining any sense of self-esteem and self-confidence? Ask almost any teenager and they’ll tell you that in their world a pimple is a good reason to hide from the world.
Until she was sixteen and moved to Montreal on her own, Kathaleen says she really didn't like herself. However given constant support from the Montreal Shriners, things began to change. "They made me feel I was a person, that I didn't have to hide behind my scars or worry about what people might say,” she says. “I'm not saying people can't hurt me today because I'd be lying,” she continued. “Although I've lived with my scars all my life, they still bother me but I've overcome it in large part by realizing that if people don't take the time to get to know me, it's their problem, not mine."
Kathleen married young in Montreal. But after her second child, she returned to school, completed her high school education and went on to qualify as a Long Term Practical Nurse. Eventually that job didn't work out because of problems with her hands, problems that resulted from the fire.
She then qualified as a Medical Office Assistant, but neither of these qualifications is recognized in British Columbia where she has lived for the past twelve years. Eight years ago Kathaleen became a single mother with six children. Soon after that she began studying to get a Social Work Diploma.
She says her primary reason for going back to school had less to do with finding a good job than it had to do with motivating her kids. "Even if I don't get a great job," she says, "I will teach my kids that it's important to finish school before you start a family."
Kathaleen didn’t stop with her Social Work Diploma. She went on to get an Education Assistant’s Diploma and she didn’t stop there either. She now has her Bachelor of Education degree and is a fully qualified teacher.
Some of the most important life lessons Kathleen says she has learned are:
* Focus on what you have, not what you don't have.
* Focus on your strengths and gifts, not your faults and weaknesses.
* If you are having a bad day, let it go. Don't carry that baggage into tomorrow.
* And of course, you can't judge a book by its cover.
As we were ending our conversation Kathleen said something that has continued to resonate with me. "When you are different," she said, "people have fear of the unknown and it's easier for them to avoid going near you. As a result they never learn what you are all about."
Can you think of a time when fear prevented you from doing something you now wish you had done? Perhaps it was a time you had an opportunity to help someone who was being bullied, or a time you were afraid to answer a question in class in case you were wrong, or a time you didn't take dance lessons in case your friends would laugh at you. If you found yourself in that situation again, would you do something different?
Click on Kathaleen's VideO Below
My Hidden Hero is my Great Papa
My great Papa’s name is Ralph Cook Wilson and he was born in England in 1906. He moved to Canada, by himself, when he was 17.
Great Papa worked in the coal mines in Nanaimo and after the coal mines he was a fisherman and also worked for the Pacific Biological Station.
Until he was 101 years old, he enjoyed gardening, lawn bowling, hunting and fishing.
My Great Papa still went moose hunting when he was 100 years old! When he was 101, he fell and broke his hip, so now he lives at Dufferin Place Nursing Home where he gets extra help.
My Great Papa is amazing to me because he is 102 years old and still keeps busy visiting and participating in games and activities. He loves me and my sister so very much and we love him a lot too!!!
My great Papa’s name is Ralph Cook Wilson and he was born in England in 1906. He moved to Canada, by himself, when he was 17. 
