Her friends thought pancreatitis would keep this woman from celebrating St. Paddy's Day. They were wrong
CBC
When it comes to St. Patrick's Day at O'Reilly's Pub in St. John's, Nikki Davis and her friends sitting in the session booth is as common a sight as green lights on the stage.
Davis has been to the pub for every St. Patrick's Day celebration of the last 23 years, often spending every hour from 7 a.m. to close at the bar.
But when she was admitted to hospital last week for pancreatitis and cholecystitis and in need of surgery, she feared the tradition was in jeopardy.
Her friends had a backup plan, however, creating a life size cardboard bust of Davis so that she could drink with them in spirit if she couldn't make it.
"Usually when I come here in the morning I get a Guinness and a coffee together, and I always take like kind of a cheers picture with it, and they blew it up life size on a stick," Davis said with a laugh Friday.
But the leprechauns were smiling on Davis this year, who through a bit of luck — and a chat with her care provider to push her surgery two weeks because it couldn't happen before Friday — was able to head downtown to continue the tradition and drink non-alcoholic beer with her own cardboard cutout.
"I got out [Thursday] afternoon, so I'm so grateful to be here," she said. "Now there's really two of me here today."
And despite the non-alcoholic beverages, she says it won't dampen her holiday spirit.
"I'm high on life today so it just doesn't even matter. It's my favourite day."
Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
The City of Edmonton is developing a wildfire strategy to mitigate risks within the municipality and help neighbouring regions, the city's emergency advisory committee heard Wednesday.
About 20 workers, students and local MPP candidates gathered outside Hamilton's Mohawk College Wednesday — where a fifth of full-time jobs have been cut since December — to call on the province to better fund post-secondary education.
In a busy race to Queen's Park, nine candidates are vying for the Sarnia—Lambton seat — a riding that's been conservative for nearly 20 years.
There's just over a year left in the Canada-Alberta child-care agreement and it's shaping up to be a rocky one for some parents, who — for this first time in the history of the agreement — will see their fees increase as a new phase of the program rolls out.
B.C. MLA Adrian Dix says he gets texts, emails, and even stopped at his local Safeway. He says people urge him to cut off power or even water to the U.S.
B.C. cities, in general, would be among the least vulnerable in Canada if U.S. President Donald Trump follows through on tariff threats, according to new data from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
Here's where and when you can vote in advance polls in Waterloo region, Guelph and Wellington County
Voting day is Feb. 27 in the Ontario election, but people can cast their ballots this week in advance polls.
Staff with Summerside Electric say they're not getting many updates from Maritime Electric after a failure at the utility's Sherbrooke substation over a week ago caused strain on the city's electrical grid.
The N.W.T.'s public utilities board has ordered the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) to start paying Naka Power $48,500 per month to use a transmission line in the Hay River area, starting March 1.
Ideologically motivated violent extremist groups are using antisemitism in a bid to recruit followers and inspire violence, according to a report from Canada's spy agency.
It's a move that could reshape North American trade.
Ontario's main political parties are competing for the hearts of voters by appealing to their wallets, with a mix of tax cuts and money-back rebates pitched as helping with the cost of living.
With one full week to go before voting day, Elections Ontario is working to reverse a recent downward trend in voter turnout, which set a record low of 43 per cent the last time Ontarians went to the polls in 2022.