My thank you to SickKids
GUEST BLOG: Stephanie, former SickKids patient
My name is Stephanie and I am living with a genetic disease called Cystic Fibrosis (CF). On November 15, 1983, The Hospital for Sick Children saved my life. This is my thank you.
Thank you, from my Dad, for giving him hope on what he describes as the scariest day of his life.
The day of my birth was an overwhelming one for my father. Shortly after my birth at Oshawa General Hospital, I was transported to SickKids to undergo life-saving surgery on my very distended abdomen. My mother, who had lost an extreme amount of blood during her emergency C-section, needed to stay at Oshawa General. My father put his trust in the staff at SickKids and stayed behind with my mother, receiving updates about my surgery via conference call with the doctors at SickKids. When my mom was stable enough to be left on her own, my dad made his way to Toronto to see his little girl.
Once he arrived at SickKids, he was directed to The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). It was there that he met what he describes as the “kindest nurse in the world.” She helped him gown up and invited him over to my incubator. She explained everything that was going on and all the machinery that was connected to me. My Dad explained to her that the doctors were afraid that I wouldn’t make it through the night. She looked up at my dad and said, “This little girl is a fighter. She’ll be alright.” The nurse then asked him a bazar question. Did my Dad have a camera? He replied that he had a Polaroid camera. The nurse told him to bring it with him in the morning so that he could take photos of me. When he asked her why, she stated, “So that your wife can see that this little girl is just fine. She needs to know that.”
Thank you, from my Mom, for making it possible for her to bring home her baby girl.
Before she should have been out of the hospital herself, my mom was by my side as much as humanly possible. One evening, she went home to shower and see my older brother and sister. At 4 a.m., she got a call from someone at SickKids telling her that she had better get down to see me a.s.a.p. When she got there, my bassinet was empty. Her heart sank. Just then the nurse, seeing the look of fear in my mom’s eyes, wrapped her arms around her and said that I needed an emergency procedure but was going to be ok.
After multiple procedures, surgeries, ileostomy bags and more surgeries, they were finally able to fix my intestinal tract. As soon as I gained enough weight and strength, I would be able to go home. Because I no longer had the ileostomy bag, I could actually wear a little sleeper from the pile of donated clothes they had on the ward. The nurse and my mom chose one and dressed me like a real baby. I finally looked like a baby girl and not a tiny science experiment.
My mom wanted to take it one step further. Now that she could think of something besides surgery, she tried to think of ways to make my life a little more comfortable and ‘normal’. She asked the nurse if she could bring in new bedding and my own sleepers. The nurse cautioned that some of my things might get mixed up with ward supplies and I might lose some stuff, but my mom didn’t mind. She was just happy to start being my mother instead of a visitor.
She returned the next day with pretty blankets and piles of sleepers. She changed my bed every day and dressed me in beautiful outfits.
What my mom and I are ultimately grateful for is the amount of teamwork that went into my health from day one. The team of doctors allowed my mom to start building a sense of normalcy for me - even when it seemed premature.
"This hospital, everyone in it, makes it a place where actual miracles happen."
I remember being in the back of my mom’s minivan in 1989, driving around running errands with her when the news came over the radio. The researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children had isolated the gene that causes CF. I was six at the time, but I can recall it so vividly. I remember as my mom drove, her foot lifted slightly off the accelerator as if she wanted to slow down time to fully absorb the news. It was a glimmer of hope for us. We were THAT much closer to a cure.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for giving me this beautiful life.
It hasn’t been an easy life, but it’s been one filled with an immense amount of love and support from family, friends and my medical teams.
Because of the incredible efforts of the staff at SickKids in the minutes, hours and years after my birth, I’ve achieved my dream career, travelled to 5 different continents, married the love of my life, and experienced true miracles.
On August 4, 2015, I found myself in an operating room again but this time to witness the most incredible miracle yet; the birth of my son. Through the miracle of surrogacy, my sister gave me the greatest gift one sister could give to the other. She graciously carried my son in her body for 38 long weeks so that my lungs didn’t need to take on the stress. It’s impossible for me to express the immense sense of gratitude and pride I feel toward her.
Thank you, from my son. My legacy. My future.
I don’t know who was in that operating room that cold November morning when my life was saved, or who that amazing nurse was that gave my dad hope … but it doesn’t matter. This hospital, everyone in it, makes it a place where actual miracles happen. Where universes shift and lives are changed forever.
