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Our Stories - Meet Kelly Kilbride

"It’s not natural to see children sick and dying. When they are healthy, it’s a sign that everything is right in the world."

Kelly Kilbride

Kelly Kilbride, mother and spokesperson for mitochondrial disease

For a parent of an ailing child, there is no pain worse than watching their little one contend with a fatal illness. Spirits are easily extinguished. Heartache is incomparable, while the coming days seem awfully unpromising.

That’s how Kelly Kilbride first felt when her baby boy, Kirkland, developed mitochondrial disease. Having no known cure, the disease can severely affect all cells in the body, including those of the brain, heart and muscles. Many sufferers experience respiratory problems and 24-hour seizures. They may not be able to speak or hold their head up. Today, five-year-old Kirkland is in palliative care. His prognosis is poor. SickKids’ care of her son, however, has been “phenomenal,” Kelly asserts. Treatment of his multiple symptoms has given her son a decent quality of life, however transitory.

“When you have a child with a disease like this, you can lose friends rather quickly, because they may feel guilty and intimidated. Nonetheless, people have had the capacity to enter our lives, while others have returned to show their support. It’s just incredible,” says Kelly, no longer fearing and loathing.

Refusing to allow “monstrous mitochondrial disease” to further devour her spirit, Kelly is fighting back with feasible weaponry: philanthropy. She helped spearhead the Mito March: Kure for Kirkland in Georgetown, Ontario in 2005 - a fundraising endeavour that has grown exponentially since its first year.

“With financial support, the hospital may very well employ the smartest, most dedicated doctors and scientists in the world, whose knowledge and capabilities know no boundaries. I believe that philanthropy has played an important part in establishing SickKids’ legacy. It has lead to ‘miracle kids’ walking out its doors each day,” says Kelly, who is relishing her new role as spokesperson for Kirkland’s sickness.