Global News What Happened To...?

Brandon Wolf recalls the hours leading up to June 12, 2016 vividly. He said he made plans to go out with his friends Christopher Andrew (Drew) Leinonen and Juan Ramon Guerrero.They decided to go to Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando.At 2:02 a.m. a man armed with a semi-automatic rifle and a handgun walked into the tightly packed club and began firing.The massacre is on record as one of the deadliest mass shootings of LGBTQ2S+ people in the U.S. Forty-nine people were killed and 53 others were injured by gunfire, most of whom were LGBTQ2S+ and many were people of colour.On this episode, Erica Vella revisits the story of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla., on June 12, 2016 and speaks with Brandon Wolf about his experience as a survivor and how witnessing the shooting that night changed the course of his life.She also finds what happened to the nightclub and the investigation into the mass shooting and if the events led to any changes in the U.S.Contact:Twitter: @ericavellaEmail: erica.vella@globalnews.caIf you enjoy Global News What Happened To...?, please take a minute to rate it on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts, tell us what you think and share the show with your friends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of Global News What Happened To...?, journalist Erica Vella revisits the SARS epidemic that gripped parts of Canada in 2003.This year has been an unprecedented year as the world battles the COVID-19 pandemic, but 17 years ago, parts of the world faced another coronavirus -- Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, better known as SARS.Erica Vella looks back at the SARS epidemic and explains how one super-spreading event brought the virus to Toronto, where health-care workers were among the hardest hit.Sylvia Gordon was working in the critical care unit at Scarborough Grace Hospital in 2003 and there was one day in early March that she recalls vividly.“I was doing a day shift -- a 12-hour day shift -- we had trouble staffing and I stayed on for an extra hour or so,” she said.“Just as I was on my way out the door, I heard deep snoring. I thought, wow somebody is in trouble. I went in the room and sure enough, the patient was having like a cardiac arrest. So I put my bag down and called a code and we began resuscitating him.”At the time, Gordon had no idea that the patient she was resuscitating had SARS and she was now infected with the virus.“Initially I thought I was coming down with the flu. It was, you know -- you're coughing and you're feeling lethargic, running the temperature and just body pain, aches and pains all over,” she said.Gordon called in sick and explained what she was feeling.“I was told 'gosh, you know, you're not the first one. We've been getting a number of calls from other colleagues that they're not able to make it to work, that they're ill.' And then I started figuring out, well, maybe we contracted something. So I started calling my colleagues and then they described the same symptoms.”In Canada, there were 438 probable and suspect SARS cases reported and there were 44 deaths that included three health-care workers.Globally, the virus killed more than 800 people.Erica Vella finds out what changes were made following the SARS epidemic to protect health-care workers in Ontario and most importantly, if it helped in the battle ahead with COVID-19.Contact:Twitter: @ericavellaEmail: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of Global News What Happened To...?,, journalist Erica Vella revisits the story of the ice bucket challenge.In 2014, social media feeds were flooded with videos of people showering themselves in ice cold water; the goal was to raise awareness and money for ALS.Julie Frates’ husband, Pete Frates, was one of the co-creators.“Our good friend Pat Quinn, who has ALS and lives in New York, he was challenged and in that challenge, he also named one of Pete's good friends,” she said.“Pete saw it immediately and thought, okay … everyone's got to get on this right away and I remember sitting down that night at dinner and he directed all of us to go on Facebook and just continually start challenging people and sharing it.”The campaign went viral; celebrities like Justin Timberlake, Jimmy Fallon and Bill Gates joined in on the dare and globally over $220 million dollars was raised.“It was unfathomable,” she said.“It was shocking for us and it was shocking for everyone in the medical community. Everyone who had spent their whole career trying to research this disease; it was kind of like such a huge windfall. It was amazing and overwhelming and completely hard to grasp.”Pete was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 2012. The disease weakens muscles and impairs physical functioning. There is no known cure.Erica Vella speaks with the family that started the viral campaign to see what has happened since 2014 and endeavors to answer; did it lead to any positive change?Contact:Twitter: @ericavellaEmail: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of the Global News What Happened To...?, journalist Erica Vella revisits the story of the 33 trapped Chilean miners.On Aug. 5, 2010, the San Jose Mine in Chile collapsed while 33 men were underground. Mario Sepulveda, who has worked in the mining industry for almost two decades, spoke to Global News through a translator and said he remembers the day vividly.At approximately 2 p.m., Sepulveda said he began hearing really loud noises.Above ground, teams of people had been working to find the trapped miners, unaware if they had survived, but on Aug. 22, contact was made with the 33 men after a drill broke through.For 69 days in 2010, the world held its breath hoping for the safe return of 33 men trapped in a mine in Chile and people from all over the world helped in the rescue – including members of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Erica Vella speaks with one of the miners and members of the teams that helped in the rescue. She also finds out what changes were made to the mining industry following the collapse.Contact:Twitter: @ericavellaEmail: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode Erica Vella revisits the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the nuclear crisis that followed at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.On Mar. 11, 2011, a magnitude-9.0 earthquake rocked parts of Japan and triggered a massive tsunami that killed almost 20,000 people.Kazuko Moghul, who lives in Ontario, said she had family in parts of Japan that was hit by the earthquake and tsunami.“I watched the program of NHK [Japan Broadcasting Corporation]. … I realized a big earthquake and huge tsunami hit Tohoku region,” she said.“I knew I had to contact my family right away.”Moghul tried to get in touch with her family that day, but had no luck and in the days that followed she would learn that earthquake and deadly waves would take the lives of four family members.The natural disaster caused the Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima to go into meltdown.Ontario resident, Dan Ayotte, an employee for General Electric, was working in the offices of nuclear plant when the earthquake hit.“I really didn't think we were going get out. I thought the building was going to come down,” he said.While Ayotte managed to escape and make it back to his home in Peterborough, Ont., a nuclear crisis was unfolding at the Daiichi plant and concerns had been raised around if people in Canada had been exposed to unsafe levels of radiation.On this episode of Global News What Happened to…? Erica Vella speaks with Moghul and Ayotte; she also discovers if the nuclear disaster affected people living on Canada’s west coast.For more exclusive content head over to https://globalnews.ca/news/7457185/whatever-happened-to-podcast-great-east-japan-earthquake-daiichi-nuclear-crisis/ Contact:Twitter: @ericavellaEmail: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just because a story disappears from the news doesn’t mean it’s gone…Like whatever happened to the nuclear disaster at Fukushima? or the trapped Chilean Miners? And did anything come out of the Ice Bucket Challenge?Join Erica Vella, a reporter for Global News, as she revisits these stories and talks to the people at the heart of each one to find out exactly what’s happened since.  Global News What Happened To...? Coming Soon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices