Dan and Nikki Isley wanted to do something a little different for their son’s birthday this year.
    Ethan, who turned one on June 25, has Spina Bifida, and when his parents Dan and Nikki found this out before he was born, they chose to travel to the Philadelphia Children’s Hospital to have an utero surgery performed. Nikki said this surgery was not offered in Canada.
    “In Canada they close the back after he (would) be born, but doing it in utero is starting to gain some attraction in the medical field (because) it has better outcomes,” she said continuing by saying that Ethan is not paralyzed and he is moving his legs good and they believe he will walk.
    “We feel it was a good decision, and that he was one of the good outcomes,” she said.
    When the couple was in Philadelphia, they were able to stay at the Ronald McDonald Children’s House. To celebrate Ethan’s first birthday, the family wanted to give back, but in a more local perspective, Nikki explained.
    “A lot of stuff has happened in the last year, he has been in and out of the hospital, so we just decided we wanted to give back a little bit in a small way. To honour his first birthday, we are making up 23 gift baskets for the families that are staying at the (Southern Alberta) Ronald McDonald House in Calgary. We thought it would be nice to do something close to home,” she said.
    She told The Mail that the family decided to make the gift baskets a little bigger than what they could do on their own and therefore opened it up to others who may want to help.
    “We decided to open it up to the public and get donations. They have so far come together very nicely,” she said.
    Nikki said the family is still accepting donations for the baskets which can include: toiletries, travel size board games, playing cards, crosswords/sudoku’s and socks or slippers. She also said cash donations will be accepted to help purchase fresh fruit and snacks and to help purchase gift cards for the families to go to a restaurant or to get gas for travelling.
    Nikki said they will be accepting donations for the next couple of weeks until the baskets are full. Once full, the Isley family will deliver the baskets to Ronald McDonald  House in Calgary.
    To donate items for the baskets visit Ethan’s Journey on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ethanisleysjourney or call Nikki at 403-820-1330.

Canada Post has released some new stamps as part of a series celebrating Canada’s World Heritage Sites, but it appears there has been a mix up with one of the pictures.
    Released on Friday, the new stamp collection was to feature a photo of Dinosaur Provincial Park, located near Brooks, but instead featured a photo of the Drumheller Hoodoos.
    Canada Post Spokesperson Anick Losier said the company has done an investigation after the issue was brought to their attention on Friday.
    “We can confirm that it is indeed the wrong image. We are apologizing for the confusion that this may have caused of this unfortunate incident,” she said.
    She told The Mail that Canada Post has since removed the stamps that are for sale on their website and mail order, mentioning that they are in the process of removing them from their retail post offices.
    “We are going to bring them back to our warehouse where they will be destroyed, and we are working closely with Parks Canada as well as the Dinosaur (Provincial) Park people on a new stamp that will be issued as soon as possible and will feature the correct image,” she said.
    Canada Post has also called Drumheller Mayor Terry Yemen, Alberta Parks and the Canadian Badland Tourism to apologize for any confusion that this may have caused. She said from what she understands people have confused the image before but, “certainly for us it is not acceptable, so we will be re-issuing. We are also reviewing our process and taking steps to make sure that errors of this nature will not happen again.”
    Yemen said something like this is, “disrespectful. If you are going to honor an area have the respect to do the research and do it right. I am looking at it from the perspective of Dinosaur Provincial Park, if you are going to honor the place and create a stamp for it, then obviously the picture should be of that area out of respect for it.”
    Yemen said it was, “certainly an embarrassment, and a slap in the face to Dinosaur Provincial Park, when they used a picture from Drumheller.”
    He said it is, “the appropriate thing to do” when it comes to Canada Post pulling the stamp and re-issuing it with a proper photo.
    Brad Tucker, Executive Director for Canadian Badlands Tourism said, his reaction was, “number one, disappointment, but number two was I am not that surprised. Even among Albertans there is still some confusion sometimes about Drumheller verses Dinosaur Provincial Park. Of course the Provincial Park has been deemed a World Heritage Site so that is what they meant to put on the stamp, but even people traveling within Alberta sometimes come to Drumheller believing that they are in Dinosaur Provincial Park or their intention is to end up at Dinosaur Provincial Park and they end up in Drumheller or sometimes the other way around.”
    “I wish I could say this is an unusual thing, but it’s not and it’s something we want to work hard at clarifying,” he said.
    “Dinosaur Provincial Park I describe as more of the outdoor experience. It is about hiking in the Badlands, discovering fossils for yourself, that is a little bit of a different experience, where in Drumheller you have the indoor experience of the museum which is outstanding, and then you have the town which is so well set up to accommodate tourists… there are so many attractions close to there. You can say they are quite different, but they compliment each other well,” Tucker told The Mail.