Living their Legacy
Jordan and Lisa Gnat first came to SickKids as ‘kids’. That’s the word Jordan uses to describe who he and his wife Lisa were when their first child, Emily, needed SickKids. “We were two 26 year-old kids with a kid,” says Jordan. “When Emmy was six weeks old, she was having trouble breathing. So we took her to her family doctor, who immediately sent us to SickKids ER. When Dr. Blake Papsin (now SickKids Chief of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery) saw her, he quickly determined that her airway was more than 80% blocked, and that immediate surgery was required.”The blockage — a tumour in Emily’s airway — was benign, but it kept growing back. In total, she underwent five surgeries. A new treatment significantly slowed the growth of the tumour, and by the time she was 10 months old, she had successfully outgrown it.
For Jordan and Lisa, evolving how they fund the fight at SickKids is the best way to live their commitment.
For Jordan and Lisa, evolving how they fund the fight at SickKids is the best way to live their commitment. “We got involved with SickKids for the same reason most parents get involved — we had an experience there. I would describe SickKids as the greatest place you never want to go. But you know, if you live here, in Toronto, and you have a child who’s sick, you can go to the greatest children’s hospital in the world,” says Jordan.
Today, research has discovered that an off-the-shelf blood pressure drug can be used to shrink tumours like Emily’s, sparing kids the laser surgeries she had, and the invasive tracheotomies that were another option. As Jordan says, “That only comes through research and discovery. And that’s why we think long-term in our planning for the hospital.”
Part of Jordan and Lisa’s long-term thinking is their recent gift of a life insurance policy to the SickKids VS Limits Campaign (which follows the Gnats’ decision to endow a Chair in Otolaryngology). Jordan encourages others to think about this kind of legacy: “It was another opportunity to give, and to again think long-term.”
Today, Emmy is healthy, 19, and a university student. Whatever her future holds, philanthropy will be part of it. Growing up in the Gnat family means that giving back to others is embedded in her DNA.
