Late in winter of 2026 I spoke with Alvin Law about Yorkton’s Snowarama, a longtime fundraiser for what is now SaskAbilities. Each year the Council would name a Timmy, someone who represented the council at events and was the ambassador on behalf of the so-called “handicapped” community of the province. Alvin was the Timmy in 1976, at the age of 16.

Alvin was born without arms, one of about 125 in Canada whose mother was prescribed thalidomide. He has since become a well-known motivational speaker, who has travelled the world from his home base in Calgary, providing a positive message to audiences while also amazing them by playing the piano and drums.

I knew of his parents, Hilda and Jack Law, but didn’t know them personally. So when I talked to Alvin back in February, I suggested we should do a podcast – not about him, but about the couple who first became his foster parents, then adopted him. At the time they were in their mid-50s. They had raised two sons who had moved out and away to start careers and their own families. They were empty nesters. But they took on a task most would not even consider, let alone do… caring for a newborn baby with no arms.

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