A Father’s Perspective: Grateful for SickKids
GUEST BLOG – Michael Eaton, Director of Business Banking Foreign Exchange with TD Securities and dad to SickKids kid Nicholas.
It was two and a half years ago when Nicholas, then just 20 months old, had his accident. My wife Stephanie had taken him and his older brother Zachary to their swimming lessons at a school and community centre around the corner from our house. They got there a bit early and decided to play on the playground. It was there he fell from one of the playground structures, from about five feet high, down onto packed down gravel, landing right on his head. He remained conscious after the fall, but it soon became apparent to my wife and others at the community centre that he began to decline and needed immediate attention. They called 911.
Zachary was brought home by one of the guys managing the community centre and he explained to me that my wife and Nicholas were on their way to SickKids in an ambulance. We got there as quickly as we could and made our way to emergency.
Nicholas went for a CT scan, after which we understood just how severe the situation was. He had a fractured skull and a subdural haematoma and his condition was getting worse. The fellow on call explained that we needed to get him into surgery as soon as possible as his life was in danger. At that time they did not know the full extent of his brain injury and what we could be facing. They were also concerned about his right eye as it sustained quite a bit of trauma.
After nearly two hours of surgery, we met our neurosurgeon Dr. Peter Dirks. As part of the operation, Dr. Dirks had to remove the bone flap from Nicholas’ right side to allow for all of the eventual swelling to run its course. He still didn’t know the severity of the damage to his brain. He did give us the full spectrum of outcomes though, from complete recovery on the one end, to the worst thing imaginable on the other.
Optometry soon after confirmed that his right eye would be fine. We also were fortunate to get an MRI around 12 hours after his fall.
The next day, Dr. Dirks gave us the incredible news that the MRI showed that Nicholas didn’t sustain any damage to his brain tissue. I still can’t properly describe the emotions my wife and I felt at that time.
It was then that we began to realize that we had the very best in Dr. Dirks. At one point I rode the elevator with the fellow who first met us. He was very sympathetic to what we were facing, and he said that Dr. Dirks is a genius, world renowned, and that there is no one better that we could have placed our trust in.
We spent four days in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit. As a parent it is very difficult to see your child in that kind of state. His head was bandaged, he had a neck brace on, his right eye was completely swollen and closed shut, he had many tubes connected to him and a monitor charting his progress. But the toughest part was seeing him as heavily sedated as he was and not being able to talk to him or pick him up or hold him. My wife and I would have given anything to trade places with him.
On about the third day he started to communicate. It was when he was being extubated that he started shouting “All done, all done” – which was what he would say to us at home when he was done with something. We took so much relief and comfort in that. You hear that he doesn’t have any brain damage, but until we finally had that moment where he was just Nicholas, we didn’t have that kind of certainty.
Our time in Intensive Care was difficult but I do have to say that the nurses and staff there were amazing. You really get the sense that they are so dedicated to seeing children heal and move on and how proud they are to work at SickKids. On day five, we moved to 5C, the Neurology/trauma ward, where we spent the next twenty days. My wife and I took turns staying at the hospital overnight. During our stay in 5C, there were many ups that we celebrated and downs that we tried to keep in perspective. And many tears. But throughout it all, Nicholas gave us so much inspiration with how resilient he was through everything. And I mean this when I say he is the strongest person I know. I am deeply inspired by him.
The Occupational and Physical therapists assigned to Nicholas were really encouraged by what they saw in his recovery and determined he likely would not require any longer term care, which was amazing news to us. His right eye was healing and he was now able to open it. Eventually Nicholas had a second surgery to have his bone flap put back in place and Dr. Dirks was very encouraged with how this surgery went.
My wife and I would have given anything to trade places with him.
We were pretty overjoyed when, after 25 days spent at SickKids, Nicholas was finally discharged.
Many months have since passed and Nicholas has been hitting all of his milestones along the way. He’s been developing physically and cognitively like any child would. Nicholas is now a healthy four-year-old enjoying life in Junior Kindergarten. He is doing great. We are so fortunate, and that fact is not lost on us at all.
We have had time to properly reflect on our SickKids experience. It is certainly something that we will never forget. Words still can’t express the profound gratitude we have. Because of SickKids, we have a lifetime to look forward to with our son that we will always cherish.
Every so often we will find ourselves caught in a moment with Nicholas, in complete wonderment, happiness and perspective of what is truly important. And we will have many more collections of moments to come. All of the joyful times in life that we get to enjoy with him are thanks to Dr. Dirks, his team and the entire hospital staff. Nicholas’ future will unfold filled with memorable moments as he grows up in front of our eyes. But all of these moments past, present and future do not even compare to when Nicholas simply looks at us and says “I love you,” which is the best moment of them all.
We wouldn’t bear the thought of life without him. Our family is complete. We have come through this with an unbreakable bond. Our experience at SickKids will always be with us. It gave us so much hope, and we will forever be grateful.
