I'm Fundraising in Support of SickKids!

In 2017 we were expecting our first child.

It was an easy pregnancy and naively we had no reason to believe anything would be wrong.

 On a Friday afternoon in July. I went into our local hospital for some monitoring. After a failed NST and ultrasound a doctor came in to see me and explain that my baby needed to be born ASAP. So after a frantic call to my husband I was taken in for an emergency c-section. 

Little did I know, at the time that, that a team from our nearest children's hospital was on its way by police escort.

Roughly four hours after delivery a member of the team from the out of town hospital came to speak with us. She explained that our son was stable enough for transportation back to her hospital, they were just waiting an a piece of equipment to be delivered to them.

Once they had all the equipment needed they were off.The next day I was transferred to the same hospital so that we could all be together.

Lost of tests were run and it was suspected that our son had an brain AVM. This children's hospital now advised us that our son would be better off in the care of SickKids hospital in Toronto , so again, he was transferred.

The next day I was discharged and my husband and I were off to Toronto.

SickKids immediately started running tests and confirmed that our son did indeed have a brain AVM (arteriovenous malformation), which unfortunately had ruptured.

Once this was confirmed the team came up with a plan. We were met at our sons bedside by about 12 people all explaining the plan for neuro surgery. 

This was the only option!    So there went our 4 day old, off to surgery.

Sitting in that waiting room for hours was excruciating. Not knowing what was happening. Finally, after almost 4 hours out came the surgeons. The surgery looked to be successful. 

Now we wait and see. The days following brought more tests, more prayers, more tears. Until it was confirmed that our sons brain was to damaged and there was nothing else that could be done.

Our brave little Lincoln passed in our arms at EIGHT days new.

Fast forward to 2022

We were pregnant with our third child. Another seemingly "easy" pregnancy except for some placenta issues which landed us in the hospital from 20 weeks on. 

At 30 weeks I went for an MRI on our unborn child. The pictures came back and it was thought that this baby too, had a brain AVM.

So we transferred our care up to Mount Sinai to be closer to SickKids. The team at SickKids agreed to transfer care of baby after delivery. So at 32w and 4 days when it was determined through our routine monitoring that this baby was better on the outside rather than the inside. I  was again taken in for another emergency c-section. Where at an hour old our newest family member went across the street to SickKids to be cared for by the NICU and our neuro team.

After running some tests and doing an MRI it was confirmed that our new baby actually had an AVF (arteriovenous fistula). So with that confirmed the plan was again surgery, the same surgery performed on Lincoln. However given the circumstances our new baby had some time before they wanted to go ahead with surgery. Infact the plan was, to just monitor and have him grow bigger and stronger before they would eventually preform the surgery. 

So with that started our 5 week long NICU stay. Once discharged another MRI was scheduled to monitor the growth of the AVF. That MRI showed to much growth and it was determined surgery should be done sooner rather than later. 

So with that our 4 month old went in for his first neuro surgery. Again, it was another long surgery. From a surgical standpoint everything went great. Now we just monitor with yearly MRI's and go in for surgery when needed. 

We have experienced some of our darkest moments within the walls of SickKids Hospital. 

However we also owe the hospital and staff a great deal. 

This page and our continued fundraising is a small way that we can say thanks and give back. As well as create a legacy for Lincoln.  

We appreciate any and all support!