Latest news with #Chatsworth
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
After seeing my sister's anguish I understand why she chose assisted suicide
Shortly before her death by assisted suicide, Caroline March wrote a raw, frank and deeply moving Facebook post outlining her reasons for ending her life. The 31-year-old, a former professional event rider who was paralysed in a cross-country fall, described herself as 'a complete rogue, someone who thrives off spontaneity', who could never be happy without the adrenaline rush of riding her horses or the physical exertion of labouring on her parents' farm. This wasn't her only option, she conceded, but 'it's a decision I've made which is the best route for me'. Pre-empting those she knew would vehemently disagree, she added: 'No one can truly understand what I have to go through.' Caroline's death at Pegasos clinic in Switzerland on March 23, 2024 was a devastating outcome her family had hoped desperately to avoid. They had done everything in their power to persuade her that her life was still worth living; that she could build a new existence that was, yes, far different from the one she'd envisaged, but still meaningful. In the end, there was nothing they could do to dissuade her. 'She was strong, independent and very determined,' says her brother Tom, 34, who is currently in the middle of an epic cycling and climbing fundraising challenge in her memory. 'She very much made up her mind and was confident that she didn't want to go on, so I have to respect that.' Growing up in the Essex countryside, in a family of equestrians – Tom's wife, Piggy March, has represented Great Britain in eventing many times – Caroline had ridden her entire life. By the time of her accident, at Burnham Market on April 16, 2022, she was delighted to be competing at four-star level at events such as Blenheim, Chatsworth and Gatcombe. Tom describes the fall which transformed her future as 'innocuous', saying: 'I've seen much more dramatic ones on a regular basis, when people get up, dust themselves off and carry on as normal.' But Caroline was knocked unconscious and awoke complaining of an altered sensation in her legs. She was airlifted to Addenbroke's Hospital, Cambridge, where she underwent surgery and it emerged she had suffered lacerations to her liver and fractured two vertebrae in her spine. It was soon clear that the catastrophic injury had left her paralysed below the waist, but since it wasn't 'complete' – 'She had tiny bits of feeling, but very minimal,' says Tom – Caroline threw herself into rehabilitation at Stoke Mandeville Hospital's specialist spinal injuries centre, determined to overcome it. 'The surgeon who operated on her didn't believe she would walk again, but other doctors were less sure, because people can make progress,' says Tom. 'My approach was to prepare for the worst and hope for the best, but I think Caroline was initially very positive, because she expected that if she worked hard with all the physio, she would be fine.' The realisation that wouldn't be the case was a gradual dawning over the course of many frustrating months, in which progress refused to materialise. Caroline even flew to the United States for stem cell therapy using her bone marrow, which made no difference – a crushing blow Tom sees as a turning point. 'I think she was fighting what the reality was for quite a long time, before it suddenly hit, like a steam train,' he says. 'She realised, this is what I am.' Despite their mutual love of horses and the outdoors, brother and sister were always very different characters: Tom level-headed and steady, while Caroline was more emotionally volatile and 'lived totally in the moment'. The amount of planning and help now required for her to go anywhere was anathema to her. 'Her life seemed so much smaller than before,' he says. Another heartbreaking aspect of her plight was her longing to be a mother. In her Facebook post, she wrote: 'All I ever wanted was a family and I'd have given up everything in an instant for one.' Tom believes it's possible she might still have been able to have children, but says she couldn't reconcile the difference between the kind of mother she'd envisaged being, and the one she could be now. 'In her head, motherhood was running around, playing games with them, and obviously that kind of involvement isn't possible from a wheelchair.' When she first began raising the possibility of assisted suicide, Tom saw in it echoes of her habit of running away and slamming the door shut as a teenager, as a way to shut down difficult conversations. 'She'd say, 'What's the point of talking about this? I'm not going to be here anyway' which, particularly for my parents, was excruciating to hear.' Then, as time went on, it became clear a plan was taking shape. Initially, Tom and his parents argued and pleaded with her to reconsider, 'but the harder we tried, the more she pushed back,' he says. He talked Caroline into counselling with a therapist, to no avail. 'My wife, Piggy, spoke to a counsellor who said we couldn't change her mind, we could only be there for her, which helped,' he says. Caroline seemed matter-of-fact when discussing her plans to go to the clinic, once telling him she couldn't see an equestrian mental health charity which wanted to help, because she had a dentist's appointment. 'I said, 'Why are you going to the dentist when you're saying you won't be here in a month?' She said, 'I have to get my teeth X-rayed so they can identify me when I'm out there.' 'I was shocked, but it made me realise the hoops she was jumping through. You don't just careen into this by accident, it's a very calculated decision. Her confidence in it has given me solace.' She would tell her loved ones she wasn't depressed; the problem wasn't in her head, but her body – although Tom worried then, and still wonders now, if she was in the despair that was inevitable once she realised her situation was permanent, 'and if, had she waited longer, she might have found a way out'. Until the last moment, her family were still, understandably, wondering if she could be dissuaded. 'We thought, 'Do we go down the legal route to try to stop her flying?',' he says. 'But the problem wasn't her going to Switzerland, it was that she wanted to. And if we stopped her going, we wouldn't have changed that desire. 'It seemed that there was no real path to keeping our relationship with her until the end without respecting her decision.' Caroline went to the clinic alone – helping someone travel abroad for assisted suicide is a criminal offence – promising her family that if she changed her mind, she would come home. Saying goodbye was 'surreal' says Tom, who didn't know if he would see her again. 'I hope I never have to do anything like that again,' he says, simply. The change of heart they hoped for didn't come, and she went through with her plan. The assisted dying Bill of which MPs voted in support last November, and which is currently making its way through Parliament, would not have applied to Caroline had it been passed in time. Only terminally ill adults with less than six months to live will be given the right to die under the proposed legislation. The volatile debate around the subject reignited ahead of the Scottish Parliament's vote earlier this month for its version, with those in favour citing individual autonomy, an end to suffering and the right to dignity in death, and those opposed arguing it would violate the sanctity of life, cause the potential coercion of vulnerable people and possibly prove a slippery slope leading to involuntary euthanasia. Tom's views on the assisted dying have, perhaps inevitably, changed since Caroline's death. 'Fundamentally, I find it strange that somebody who doesn't want to live can't choose not to,' he says. 'But now I see more of the nuance and complexity of all the different circumstances people might be in. 'How do you write legislation that deals with all the potential issues that will arise, and decides when it's the right time and when it's not?' On May 11, he embarked on the Pedal3Peaks Challenge to cycle 800 miles from Balmoral Castle to Windsor Castle, climbing the Three Peaks on the way. He finished the challenge within 100 hours and is raising money for the charity Spinal Research. In the UK, someone is paralysed every two hours as a result of a spinal cord injury. 'If I can be part of another family in the future not having to go through what we have, then that's a phenomenal thing to achieve, and a way to give meaning to what happened to Caroline,' he says. In the Facebook post she wrote before her death, she quoted the philosopher Alan Watts: 'I'd rather have a short life that is full of what I love doing, than a long life spent in a miserable way.' Now, Tom focusses on his sister as she would want to be remembered: strong and fearless, living and dying on her own terms. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
CBS News
26-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Hiker rescued after nearly 30-foot fall at Stoney Point rock climbing area in Chatsworth
Hiker rescued after nearly 30-foot fall at Stoney Point rock climbing area in Chatsworth Hiker rescued after nearly 30-foot fall at Stoney Point rock climbing area in Chatsworth Hiker rescued after nearly 30-foot fall at Stoney Point rock climbing area in Chatsworth Firefighters rescued a hiker who fell nearly 30 feet from a popular rock climbing area in Chatsworth on Sunday. They were dispatched to Stoney Point Park, which is located east of Topanga Canyon Boulevard and south of the 118 Freeway, at around 7:10 p.m. after learning of the incident, according to a statement from the Los Angeles Fire Department. The hiker, only identified as an adult male, fell in a "rugged and remote section" of the climbing area, which led them to also send a rescue helicopter to the scene. SkyCal was overhead as the hiker was strapped into a sling and airlifted into the helicopter. Firefighters said they would be treated in flight and taken to a nearby hospital. The hiker's condition was not immediately known.
Los Angeles Times
18-05-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Connor Koski lifts El Camino Real to City Section Open Division boys' volleyball title
It was fitting Connor Koski clinched El Camino Real's championship with a block on match point in Saturday night's City Section Open Division boys volleyball final at Birmingham High in Lake Balboa. 'I timed my jump and I thought it was going out but I guess it hit [an opposing player's] foot on the way down,' said an exuberant Koski, who moved from middle blocker to opposite hitter before the playoffs. 'I asked [coach Alyssa Lee] to switch me and it worked.' El Camino Real's triumph culminated in a 25-21, 25-20, 20-25, 25-21 victory over top-seeded Venice, but the title was four years in the making. Eleven of the Royals' 12 players are seniors. 'We're all friends, we all trust each other and it's a dream come true to win a championship in one of our last matches together,' said Tyler Lee, who paced the squad with 14 kills. 'We've lost our share of five setters, so we wanted to end this thing in four.' Koski, El Camino Real's lone junior, had eight kills, including one to end the second set. Dev Vunnam and Christian Romero also each had eight kills, Jackson Riepe had seven and Nicolas Gerola served four aces, the first of which gave El Camino Real the first set. The third-seeded Royals (27-13) got hot at the right time and avenged a pair of West Valley League losses to Chatsworth by ending the Chancellors' bid for a third straight Open title with a shocking 25-23, 25-16, 25-22 semifinal upset Tuesday. 'I've known this group since their freshman year and I've push them hard in practice to prepare them for those situations,' said Lee, who understands the intensity of every match in the West Valley League, having played libero for Granada Hills before graduating in 2009. 'The physical talent is there but the mental training is so important. You have to stay focused and can't let up.' Lee coached the boys to the Division I title in 2016 (the Open Division debuted in 2018) and guided the girls to the Open championship in 2023. She also has coached the girls to two beach volleyball crowns. 'The first two times we played Chatsworth I just let the boys play but I game-planned a lot for the semifinals,' Lee said. 'We needed a big guy on the right like Connor to block and get some kills.' Trailing by four points early in the third set and in danger of being swept, the Gondoliers (36-6) used an 8-0 run to surge into the lead and finished it on Nathan Hoggatt's emphatic kill. Noah Smith had 10 kills for Venice, last year's Division I champion. Something had to give as Venice entered on an 11-match winning streak dating back to April 21 (dropping only one set in the process) while El Camino Real had won five consecutive matches and 15 straight sets since April 9. In Saturday's Division II final, hitter Izac Garcia helped Valley Academy of Arts and Sciences take home its first City title after a 20-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-15 triumph over Mendez, which was seeking its first crown since back-to-back Division III championships in 2021-22. Hamilton, last year's Division V champion, moved up to Division IV and beat Port of LA for the championship. In Division V, Wilson downed Harbor Teacher for its first-ever title. On the same floor Friday, top-seeded Taft captured its seventh section crown, sixth in Division I and first since 2015 with its 25-10, 25-20, 25-17 sweep of No. 2 Carson. Arman Mercado, who took over the girls' program in 2000 and the boys two years later, coached the girls to their first Open Division title in the fall and has guided the Toreadors to 22 finals appearances. East Valley swept Maywood CES for the Division III title — the Falcons' first in boys volleyball. Also on Friday, Mira Costa outlasted Huntington Beach in five sets in a South Bay showdown for the Southern Section Division 1 championship at Cerritos College. The top-seeded Mustangs prevailed, 25-19, 22-25, 25-19, 29-31, 15-11, behind 25 kills from Grayson Bradford — the last from the right side to end the match. Mateo Fuerbringer added 17 kills for Mira Costa, which fell in three sets to Loyola in the finals last spring. Logan Hutnick led the charge for the second-seeded Oilers, who staved off four championship points in a wild fourth set. It was the Mustangs' ninth section title and first since 2021. Mater Dei rallied to beat Peninsula 20-25, 25-17, 25-13, 25-19 in Division 2.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Venice, Sylmar, El Camino Real and Birmingham baseball advance to City Section semifinals
Coming through with clutch hits, terrific defense and strong pitching, top-seeded Venice opened the City Section Open Division baseball playoffs on Wednesday with a 4-1 win over Chatsworth, letting everyone know the 27-2 Gondoliers are a deserving No. 1 seed. It helped that Venice took advantage of local knowledge on its home field that has high nets and short fences. Jesse Dominguez had an RBI double in the first inning by hitting the ball off the net in left field. Ryan Shepard had an RBI double in the second. Canon King hit a home run off the net in right field in the sixth. Advertisement Pitcher Noel Moreno (11-1) threw a complete game and was supported by his defense. Venice catcher Charlie Nisbet was involved in several plays, throwing out a runner trying to steal third in the first inning and tagging out a runner at the plate who tried to score from first base on a double in the fifth inning thanks to a great relay throw from shortstop Daniel Quiroz. There also was right-fielder Dylan Johnson throwing out a Chatsworth runner who failed to get back to first base while thinking of stretching it into a double. Venice advanced to play in the semifinals Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Cal State Northridge against Sylmar. El Camino Real will play Birmingham at 3 p.m. in the first game of the semifinal doubleheader. "It's all coming together," said King of the senior-dominated Gondoliers. Chatsworth reliever Luis Zaragoza threw seven strikeouts. Advertisement Sylmar 2, Cleveland 0: Alex Martinez threw a five-hit shutout with four strikeouts for Sylmar. Matthew Torres and Michael Andrade each had two hits. Birmingham 9, Poly 1: Sebastian Valadez had three hits and three RBIs for the Patriots. Allen Olmos threw six innings. The Patriots will face an El Camino Real team that recorded consecutive shutouts against them last week. El Camino Real 6, Granada Hills 2: The Royals used their two top pitchers in Luke Howe and Devin Gonor to advance to the Open Division semifinals. Luigi Tanner had an RBI triple and Gavin Farley had an RBI double to help El Camino Real break a 2-2 score. Howe added two hits and two RBIs. Sign up for the L.A. Times SoCal high school sports newsletter to get scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Venice, Sylmar, El Camino Real and Birmingham baseball advance to City Section semifinals
Coming through with clutch hits, terrific defense and strong pitching, top-seeded Venice opened the City Section Open Division baseball playoffs on Wednesday with a 4-1 win over Chatsworth, letting everyone know the 27-2 Gondoliers are a deserving No. 1 seed. It helped that Venice took advantage of local knowledge on its home field that has high nets and short fences. Jesse Dominguez had an RBI double in the first inning by hitting the ball off the net in left field. Ryan Shepard had an RBI double in the second. Canon King hit a home run off the net in right field in the sixth. Pitcher Noel Moreno (11-1) threw a complete game and was supported by his defense. Venice catcher Charlie Nisbet was involved in several plays, throwing out a runner trying to steal third in the first inning and tagging out a runner at the plate who tried to score from first base on a double in the fifth inning thanks to a great relay throw from shortstop Daniel Quiroz. There also was right-fielder Dylan Johnson throwing out a Chatsworth runner who failed to get back to first base while thinking of stretching it into a double. Venice advanced to play in the semifinals Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Cal State Northridge against Sylmar. El Camino Real will play Birmingham at 3 p.m. in the first game of the semifinal doubleheader. 'It's all coming together,' said King of the senior-dominated Gondoliers. Chatsworth reliever Luis Zaragoza threw seven strikeouts. Sylmar 2, Cleveland 0: Alex Martinez threw a five-hit shutout with four strikeouts for Sylmar. Matthew Torres and Michael Andrade each had two hits. Birmingham 9, Poly 1: Sebastian Valadez had three hits and three RBIs for the Patriots. Allen Olmos threw six innings. The Patriots will face an El Camino Real team that recorded consecutive shutouts against them last week. El Camino Real 6, Granada Hills 2: The Royals used their two top pitchers in Luke Howe and Devin Gonor to advance to the Open Division semifinals. Luigi Tanner had an RBI triple and Gavin Farley had an RBI double to help El Camino Real break a 2-2 score. Howe added two hits and two RBIs.
