#helenleask

BY HELEN LEASK (FGJ ‘18) - MEI CHAN-LONG tentatively touches the left side of her head, drawing attention to a ten-centimetre crescent-shaped scar outlining the top of her ear. “My skull implant,” she says. Three years after her surgery, the forty-seven-year-old sculptor still shaves her hair around the scar. “I want to look at it sometimes, to feel that it’s real,” she says. “I don’t want to deny what has happened. This is my life. I have epilepsy. I accept it.” READ MORE

BY HELEN LEASK (FGJ ‘18) - When I first saw Tony at a neighbour's party, I'd almost given up dating. Since my divorce, I'd had a discouraging five years. Men stopped returning my calls after my daughter came up in conversation. She had a weird neurological disease that was getting worse. A kid with seizures and wacky behaviour — not what they'd signed up for. READ MORE

BY HELEN LEASK (FGJ ‘18) - At the streetcar stop I sat in the dust, breathing fumes as cars idled at the stoplight. I could have owned one of those cars, I thought, instead of sitting here on the curb, feet in the gutter. I could have bought an SUV instead of doing what I'm doing. I could be normal. READ MORE

EDITED BY HELEN LEASK (FGJ ‘18) - The Complete Canadian Guide to Prostate Cancer is the first choice for all Canadian men looking for a totally comprehensive understanding of prostate health.   This is the only available all-in-one guide that is focused on the Canadian medical system. It covers absolutely everything you need to know, including the latest medical research on diet and lifestyle, prevention, early detection, diagnosis, step-by-step treatment options in Canada—including alternatives to surgery and issues specific to gay men—recovering intimacy, and moving on with health and energy. READ MORE

BY HELEN LEASK (FGJ ‘18) - It’s been a horrible year for hurricanes, mass shootings and terror attacks. Yet amid the carnage, scientists are drawing some comforting conclusions about human psychology—especially the benefits of hands-off parenting. READ MORE

BY HELEN LEASK (FGJ ‘18) - I left my iPhone in my cabin and climbed the stairs to the bridge of my temporary home for three weeks: a 140,000-ton cargo ship called the A. Lincoln. It was 4am and I had no idea where we were. But I didn’t care. My screensaver was now the restless Pacific. I happily stared at it for three hours as the spangled scarf of the Milky Way faded and sunrise teased one-thousand glinting lights into the ocean. Reality had become mesmerizing; the digital world—that box of illusions that I had come to feel was stealing my life one byte at a time—had become irrelevant. READ MORE