BC Children's Hospital Foundation

I am participating in the 2017 Kiting for Kids in support of BC Children's Hospital.

Last year, more than 2,700 children from Vancouver Island were treated at BC Children’s Hospital - that's about seven local kids per day.

I was asked to share our story. 

In 2009 we asked ourselves: "What are the odds"? The odds of having identical twins? To be exact, 4 out of every 1000 pregnancies! What are the odds of then developing the so called twin-to-twin-transfusion-syndrome? 9% of all identical twins (monochoriopnic, diamniotic)! What are the odds of going into premature labour at 26 weeks, 11 days after you immigrate to a foreign country? After all of the above, what are the odds of your 11 month old developing cancer?

Apparently the odds were really against us! All of this happened at a very vulnerable time of our lives. With our whole support system on the other side of the world! Just goes to show, you never know what tomorrow could bring. Life can change in an instant and it can happen to anyone!

Jean and Evan entered the world at 26 weeks weighing 910 grams and 1025 grams respectively. Our journey at BC Children's Hospital started! I always imagined that for a parent a neonatal ICU must be the scariest place! I never knew it would become our first home in Canada! The next 6 months were filled with lots of medical jargon. Numerous blood transfusions, lumbar puntures, surfactant administrations, continuous bloodwork, cardiac and abdominal ultrasounds, brain MRI's, phototherapy, eye assessments, extubations, re-intubations, ventilators, chest x-rays, bloodgases, antibiotics, surgery for inguinal hernia repairs and even a cardiac-pulmonary bleed. Endless questions of possible major neuro-developmental delays, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, intraventricular hemorrhage, necrotizing enterocolitis, retinopathy...

This was our new life! These memories overwhelm me. But we could never do it on our own. We were surrounded by competence, encouragement, stories of hope, professional and loving care! Aside from world class medical care provided to my boys daily, we had access to social workers assisting with nearby accommodation and travel expenses, team members providing breastfeeding advice and spending hours helping us cope with multiple setbacks, complications and life changing decisions! I never felt like just another story. We were a priority!

We finally got home after 6 months. Jean still on home oxygen. We had big scare as Evan turned 11 months old. He presented suddenly with a distended abdomen, was evacuated to BCCH, diagnosed with a Wilms tumour (malignant cancer of his right kidney) and operated on the next morning. 11 hours later he was safe in ICU, his kidney was removed and he was to start 2 weeks of radiation and 6 months of chemotherapy. Again BCCH saved a life! The oncology team were amazing! 

Jean and Evan are doing fantastic almost 8 years later! They are happy, healthy and smart boys. I truly believe that our story would've been a different one to tell if we never ended up at BC Children's Hospital. I do not have enough words to express my gratitude. I will never be able to pay them back, but I hope that our story encourages some to give to BC's kids by donating to their fundraising campaign. 

Thank you for helping to change the life of a sick child.