At SickKids Foundation, storytelling plays a big part in the work we do. Whether it is the bravery and hopefulness of the families, the creativity and innovation of the researchers or the kindness and compassion of the staff, each play a role in contributing to the extraordinary place we call SickKids.
SickKids: Believing in Heroes takes a behind-the-scenes look at some of the stories from The Hospital for Sick Children. You will meet some of the brave children at SickKids, their families and caregivers.
Before you join the masses at the shopping malls this Boxing Day, find a comfy seat in front of the television to watch our two-hour special. Believing in Heroes begins at 8 a.m. on December 26 on CTV.
The show features seven inspirational stories in total. Here are three of the children you’ll meet:
Alexie:
Alexie and her family travelled 10 hours from their home in northern Ontario to get access to specialized care at SickKids in Toronto. Alexie needed emergency help for her aggressive cancer. After months of treatment, her cancer began to return with vengeance. Alexie fought for her life but unfortunately the medication and treatment could no longer help her. Alexie passed away in 2007.
Julian:
Julian underwent radiation therapy every day for six weeks to reduce the fast-growing tumour that had developed in his brain. After a year-long course of chemotherapy, Julian finally finished his treatments in 2004 and still visits SickKids for follow-up appointments.
Lilah:
Shortly after birth, doctors found a golf-ball-sized tumour on one of Lilah’s adrenal glands. Specialists at SickKids diagnosed Lilah with neuroblastoma, a rare and deadly form of cancer. She underwent surgery at just two weeks old and had chemotherapy treatments. Today, Lilah is cancer-free.
Russell, father to SickKids patient Sarah, shares with us his reflection on the past three years and the ups and downs of dealing with his sick child. He reminds us that every single day counts.
So here we are three years later.
December 9, 2006, was the day we first found out Sarah had a brain tumour. It seems so long ago that I can’t even imagine what life without cancer would be like anymore. Is that good or bad? I don’t even know.
We have been through so much as a family. Sarah has endured pain that no child should ever experience: months of hospitalization and treatments; countless needle pokes; hundreds of procedures, therapies, tests, and scans; five major brain surgeries; debilitating amounts of chemotherapy and radiation therapy; and in return we get no guarantees, no promises, no turning back, just the uncertainty that never goes away.
So was it worth it? Today, the answer is easy. It’s freezing cold outside and the first winter storm of the season is quickly approaching, but Sarah is safe and warm snuggled under the covers fast asleep. Our Christmas tree is sparkling in the front window and our house is decked out with Christmas lights that Sarah loves to see brightly lit. The excitement of the Christmas season radiates in Sarah’s smile, she told everyone today about our Christmas tree, not the big, beautiful one in our front window, but the little two foot tacky one that lights up and starts singing Christmas songs when you walk by it in our Family Room. Sarah loves it, she told her teacher about it, all the EAs, the school principal, her classmates, her eye doctor, the vet (we picked Teddy up today, he got “fixed”, he isn’t very happy with us) and pretty much anyone else we ran into. Sarah couldn’t wait to turn it on and watch Teddy walk by it and set it off. Teddy jumped and ran, he doesn’t like it! Boy did Sarah laugh, and it’s a laugh that warms your heart to hear. I do notice now though that Teddy has gotten his revenge, the tree is knocked over on its side and its little Santa Hat is missing.
So getting back to three years ago, the sad reality is that when we first heard Sarah’s chilling diagnosis of a Grade 4 malignant brain tumour, she was pretty much statistically dead then. But so what, the statistics on death are the same for all of us, one out of one people die! As the news sunk in, we realized that our dreams and hopes were crushed against incredible odds. Will I ever have the chance to walk Sarah down the aisle? Will she even become a teenager and have the chance to drive us crazy (like Jillian is on the cusp of doing!) We don’t know, but we deal with all these thoughts and more every day and we make choices, hopefully good choices.
Today, Sarah is very much alive. Sarah is full of joy and energy and she makes us and others who know her smile with her courage and outgoing personality every single day. So our choice is to try and live these days as best as we can. Are we miserable sometimes? Sure, but we have had lots of practice at hiding it and why be miserable when Sarah is so alive. So if you hear the hope in our voices when we talk about Sarah, don’t worry, we aren’t under any grand illusions that a miracle cure is just around the corner. We do think about the future every single day, the mental processing never stops. Do we believe there may be treatment advances soon? We certainly hope so. Do we believe that options still exist for Sarah’s treatment should her cancer not remain stable? Unfortunately, very few options remain now. Do we believe that there are medicines available and options to make Sarah feel better and relieve her pain should her cancer return? Absolutely, and that will give us precious days or weeks or even months to enjoy life and have some more fun with her and Jillian.
Today, we follow the path we have chosen as best as we can, and when that path is uneven or rocky, when the hills are steep, or when we are not sure which way to turn, we rely on each other and often many of you to lend a hand. For that we thank you.
Tomorrow is another day and ironically we return to the place where we were first given hope three years ago that Sarah may get better, SickKids Hospital in Toronto. Sarah has a series of follow-up appointments and she will undergo her 20th MRI to determine if her cancer remains stable. This will be Sarah’s 3rd follow-up MRI since we left SickKids in May after dealing with her relapse earlier this year.
We are hoping for an early Christmas present; we are hoping to hear the good news that Sarah is winning the fight against cancer.
We BELIEVE in Sarah.