Thank you Radiothon! Thank you Calgary!

  Read Izzy’s radiothon story here! 

Update: the numbers are in, the 13th annual radiothon raised 1.65 million dollars for Alberta Children’s Hospital!  Thank you Calgary!  In such hard times it is heartening to be part of such an amazing achievement.  

I write this as I feed my little munchkin and the radiothon wraps up.  Radiothon is always such a special time of the year and we are so grateful for being able to participate this year and tell the City of Calgary all about our little girl.  Listening to all the stories made me reflect what a journey we have gone through and how much the hospital actually has done for us.  I also realize in the short amount of time we had there was no way I could have ever shared all the amazing people and stories with everyone.  

I didn’t get a chance to talk about all the time we had spent going to the children’s before Isabelle was even born from meeting with genetics, peeking our head down the NICU hallway, meeting the surgical clinic and going to get MRIs in their tiny kid size machine.

I didn’t get a chance to tell how the two moms in the waiting room chatting casually with their two chronically ill teenage girls gave me hope that no matter what we would get through this with Isabelle.

We didn’t bring up all the details of Isabelle’s condition including her ASDs.  Nor did we bring up the day to day struggles, joys and laughter we shared with NICU staff.

There were not enough thank yous to all the people in the hospital that touched our lives.

And so much more…

But, how can 5 minutes ever cover the journey that we have taken over the past year and a half?  Isabelle turned 11 months today, and I am not sure that a year and a half ago I dared to dream that we would have a healthy baby home with us, let alone a happy, chatty, smart little who can do anything any other 11 month can do.  How can you ever express the roller coaster ride we have been on in 5 minutes? I just hope the bit I did share brings more awareness to omphaloceles and also to the great work the hospital has done.

It really has been so amazing to get this opportunity reflect and share with others our journey thus far.  I think I needed to, to remember what an incredible journey this truly had been.  Sometimes we are desensitized to how hard it really is because you do what you need to do for your kids and family, so it’s important to look back and remember and give back to all of those who have carried you.  Thanks all who are part of this journey, for reading and for listening. ❤️