A Mom's hug
A movement started by a mom – that’s Meagan’s Walk. Now in its 17th year, Meagan’s Walk culminates in a human hug that surrounds SickKids with love and hope. Denise Bebenek is the mom behind it. Meagan is her daughter, treated at SickKids for an inoperable brain tumour. When she passed away, Meagan was 5.Her journey as a SickKids mom galvanized Denise. During Meagan’s illness, she’d felt surrounded by a circle of care. But, as those who’ve been touched by Denise’s energy can tell you, she’s not someone who thinks of herself first. She thought of all the other mothers: “The journey that a mom goes through with a sick child – not just kids with brain tumours – it’s so huge that you feel alone.”
The dream was a human hug.
Around Denise’s dining room table, Meagan’s Walk was born. Each year, the fundraising walk and hug take place around Mother’s Day – something that was meant to be. Denise had taken her idea to the mayor, the Chief of Police, and city officials. No one had tried something like this before: administrators thought it was too huge a feat, especially for a mom who had just lost a child. But Denise’s passion obviously resonated.
“It’s a very simple message: the hug represents love and hope – the best medicine for a child.”
The next day, representatives from the city and the police were at her door, tears streaming down their faces. They put a permit in her hand, with these words: “This is serendipity. The only day we can close the streets is Mother’s Day.”
The emotional impact of Meagan’s Walk has been incalculable – nearly 50,000 people have hugged the hospital over the years. Here’s how a SickKids mom, Gwen Elling, felt on the receiving end of the hug. She was in hospital with her son, who was recovering from surgery he’d had when he was five days old. Staff suggested she go to the window. Says Gwen, “When we saw the hug wrapped around the hospital, and all the smiling faces looking up at us – and the waving hands – I felt overwhelmingly that I wasn't alone. It meant so much to see all those people there, sending their love and messages of hope into the hospital for those of us who were spending our Mother's Day at our child’s side.”
That’s the gift Meagan’s Walk gives to moms in the hospital. The financial contribution to SickKids – $5 million to date – has put the hospital on the cutting edge of brain tumour research. Based on their increasingly precise understanding of the genetic mechanisms of brain tumours, researchers are developing targeted therapies for different forms of tumour. What’s also meaningful about Meagan’s Walk is that funds raised don’t just have an impact here. Meagan’s Walk funding sustains the Meagan’s Walk Fellowship in Neuro-Oncology, which brings doctors from around the world – Spain, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Brazil, for example – to collaborate with colleagues at SickKids, and share in discoveries that will benefit children everywhere.
Today, the circle of hope Denise saw around SickKids is renewed every year, by moms and families who come together from near and far – dedicated to finding a cure for all the other Meagans.
To join Meagan’s Walk and the hug around SickKids on May 12, visit http://www.meaganswalk.com/
