Canadian Press reporter Keven Drews dies after 15-year multiple myeloma fight | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Canadian Press reporter Keven Drews dies after 15-year multiple myeloma fight

Keven Drews is shown in a family handout photo with his wife Yvette and their children. A reporter with the British Columbia bureau of The Canadian Press has died after a long and tireless battle with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells. Keven Drews was 45. T HE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Yvette Drews MANDATORY CREDIT
Original Publication Date May 03, 2018 - 3:26 PM

VANCOUVER - The night that a sawmill exploded in Burns Lake, B.C., killing two workers and injuring 19 others, Keven Drews was already on his way back to the office to cover the tragedy when his editor called him.

It was typical of Drews, a Canadian Press reporter who died Wednesday at the age of 45.

Drews knew it was an important story, and he jumped on the phone immediately to try to find people affected by the blast. He reached a mill employee who was still emotional from what he had witnessed.

For 40 minutes his colleagues listened to Drews interview the man, his questions followed by long stretches of silence.

"The recording of that conversation was one of the most powerful interviews I've ever listened to," said Wendy Cox, former Canadian Press B.C. bureau chief who now works at The Globe and Mail.

"Keven was not afraid of the silence. He was not digging for the salacious. He was helping someone talk through a horrific experience.

"It was empathetic and it was dignified, which pretty much sums up Keven."

Drews died after a 15-year battle with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells.

He was a devoted journalist and father whose passion for life and desire to constantly improve himself were a source of inspiration to his colleagues, family and friends.

He was diagnosed in 2003 and underwent a stem cell transplant as well as multiple rounds of radiation and chemotherapy during his lengthy battle.

Drews was always positive and grateful, said his oncologist, Dr. Donna Forrest.

"He always had a smile on his face," she said.

Last fall, it appeared he had exhausted all his treatment options before he learned about a U.S. clinical trial developing a promising form of T-cell therapy. The cost of participating was steep, and his friends and family embarked on a fundraising campaign to raise US$500,000.

But when he and his wife Yvette travelled to the U.S. for a consultation, they were given devastating news: He was not eligible for the trial.

"He always knew that he was going to die. But this just made it a lot more real," said Yvette.

The couple made a final journey in February to Tofino, a formative place in Drews's life and career, where he bought a burial plot and said goodbye to friends.

On Wednesday, when it looked close to the end, Yvette asked for a few moments alone with her husband.

"I told him I loved him, he was an awesome father and that it was OK to go," she said. "He'd been saying that he wanted to go."

Drews never let his cancer stop him from leading a full and adventurous life. He and his wife decided to have kids after his diagnosis, and she said he was an incredible father to seven-year-old twins Elleree and Tristan.

Through debilitating pain and draining treatments, Drews reported on major breaking news stories, learned to play classical guitar and completed a master's degree in creative non-fiction.

He constantly pushed himself to be the best person he could be, in part because of his condition, said his guitar teacher, Derek Sterling.

"He made sort of a chess analogy, that he'd be taken off the playing board if he didn't continually keep himself busy," recalled Sterling.

Before Drews joined CP he worked at community newspapers on Vancouver Island, including the Alberni Valley Times and the Nanaimo Daily News, before he started his own online outlet, the Westcoaster. The small site routinely broke news and made Drews a standout reporter on the island.

Drews wanted to make his work matter and he loved to do stories about people, said Terri Theodore, CP's B.C. news editor.

She said he was particularly proud of a story he wrote about Donovan McGlaughlin, who at age 60 had to apply for refugee status in Canada even though he had lived in the country all his life. The Yukon man's parents didn't register his birth and he was caught in a lifelong bureaucratic mess, she said.

"Keven's stories prompted action, including a lawyer who volunteered her time to help him get his citizenship," said Theodore.

"He came in the day after the story moved with a big smile on his face and said, 'That's the best thing about this job, we can make a difference.' "

A celebration of Drews' life is to be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday at St. John's Lutheran/Presbyterian Church in White Rock, B.C.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2018
The Canadian Press

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